My Lords, I had not planned to speak, but it is important to remember that we are not dealing simply with peaceful protests. I remind the House of what I said on a previous occasion in respect of these amendments. We are dealing with organised, large-scale disruption, using implements. The purpose of the disruption, as the disrupters make plain, is not simply to protest but to stop citizens going about their lawful business for a disproportionate length of time. As I reminded the House previously, the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg has said more than once that such activity is unlawful and that protests that go beyond merely protesting can legitimately be stopped by government.
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We are talking about plainly unlawful protest, not a march as we all remember. I have told the House once that I have marched too in the past, and my daughter has marched, but we are not talking about that. We are talking about locking on, sitting tight and blocking the thoroughfare for hours and hours. There has to be a balance between someone saying that they do not like climate change, which is legitimate and real, and on the other hand stopping everybody else getting to hospital, to their jobs and to school—doing what they all want to do. If you want to complain about climate
change or anything else, you can do so, but you cannot legitimately stop the world at large—the citizens of this country—going about their business. We are talking about plainly unlawful disruption, using unlawful means, which is damaging to the health and well-being of the innocent citizens of this country, of which we are all members.
These are extreme situations. I am sorry that we have ever arrived at this point, with people in this country behaving like this. But they do, and therefore we now need these rather extraordinary powers. I never thought I would support powers such as these, but on this occasion I do.