Guest essay by Eric Worrall

According to Police Federation chairman John Apter, a recent court ruling has placed police who arrest climate protestors at potential risk of legal repercussions.

Officers Fear Arresting Extinction Rebellion Vandals over Threat of Legal Reprisals: Police Representative

VICTORIA FRIEDMAN 19 Feb 2020

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Chairman of the Police Federation, which represents the concerns of rank-and-file officers, John Apter said that members across the country had expressed concern that if they attempted to arrest the protesters that they would be sued and face financial penalties.

The concerns arose after the High Court ruled against the Metropolitan Police force’s order banning the crippling XR protests in London, with green advocates claiming that they could sue the force for retroactive wrongful arrests.

“We’re damned whatever we do,” Mr Apter said in comments reported by The Times.

The Police Federation chief said officers were “clearly very mindful of potential legal action. The government has promised we will get the support that we need [but] it’s going to be on the minds of senior officers who will not want to fall on the wrong side of a previous judgment.”

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Read more: https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/02/19/police-fear-arresting-extinction-rebellion-vandals-fear-legal-reprisals/

There has already been at least one well documented instance of ordinary people fed up with Extinction Rebellion taking the law into their own hands, beating up climate protestors.

If the police feel unable to restore order, and I’m deeply sympathetic to the problems the police are facing, this will further exacerbate the risk of violent confrontation between climate protestors and their victims.