Eco ‘hooligans’ will be BANNED from chaining themselves to buildings and blocking roads under tough new measures in Queen’s Speech

Police will be given powers to stop eco ‘hooligans’ blocking roads and inflicting misery on motorists, under plans announced today.

A Public Order Bill to tackle disruptive action by groups such as Extinction Rebellionwas unveiled in the Queen‘s Speech.

The Government had attempted to bring in the measures in January, but they were blocked by Labour and others in the House of Lords

A criminal offence of ‘locking on’ will be created to prevent activists chaining themselves to buildings, vehicles and other protesters.

It will carry a maximum penalty of six months and an unlimited fine.

Stop and search powers will allow police to detain campaigners carrying bike locks and other equipment designed to make themselves difficult to remove.

A new offence will also be introduced to specifically ban the obstruction of key national infrastructure such as airports, railways and newspaper printing presses, which will be punishable by up to 12 months in prison and an unlimited fine.

It will also be illegal to obstruct major transport works, including disrupting the construction or maintenance of projects such as HS2.

And new Serious Disruption Prevention Orders will allow police to ban suspected troublemakers from attending specified events.

Groups such as Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil have used guerrilla tactics to wreak havoc in recent years – stopping people getting to work and costing taxpayers millions because of the mammoth police operations.

Policing minister Kit Malthouse said the measures are designed to stop ‘hooligan’ protests.

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘We have seen a number of very, very prolific, persistent offenders who decide to just flagrantly ignore the courts and so we’ll be bringing in a new serious disruption prevention order which we can place on them as individuals to deter them, if you like, from this kind of hooligan way of protesting.

‘We believe that protest is fundamental to our democracy but it has to be balanced against the rights of others to go about their business, and indeed keeping us all safe.

‘I’m afraid some of the tactics we’ve seen recently haven’t done that.’

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘The law-abiding, responsible majority have had enough of antisocial, disruptive protests carried out by a self-indulgent minority who seem to revel in causing mayhem and misery for the rest of us.

‘The Public Order Bill will give the police the powers they need to clamp down on this outrageous behaviour and ensure the British public can go about their lives without disruption.’

Source: (Daily Mail)