Merseyside police arrested Animal Rising protesters at the Grand National on Sunday of last week (Picture: Twitter/ @AnimalRising)
Police cracked down on hundreds of protesters on Saturday who were battling to stop horses racing at the Grand National. It was another example of new police powers being used to stifle protest.
Animal Rising—which began as an offshoot group from Extinction Rebellion—was public about its plans to protest at the Grand National.
Police intimidation and private security were ramped up ahead of the race. But some protesters managed to scale the fences surrounding Aintree racecourse in Merseyside. They fixed themselves to a jump using glue and lock-on equipment.
Merseyside police promised to rein in activists and deal with protesters “robustly”. Last Sunday the group said that 118 people had been arrested, with 42 activists “de-arrested”, and some 68 still in custody.
The cops were so desperate to allow the races to go ahead that they even arrested activists ahead of time. Merseyside Police arrested activist Rose Patterson in Greater Manchester early on Saturday morning on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
“The arrest of Rose Patterson shows that the police are more concerned with arresting peaceful protesters than telling the world about the climate, nature, and animal crisis,” said spokesperson Nathan McGovern.
And two further activists were arrested outside Aintree on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance. It’s no surprise that the cops are acting pre-emptively to stop activists from exercising their right to protest.
Their heavy-handed tactics are legitimised by a resolute push from the top of the Tories to make it harder for ordinary people to strike and protest. The Tories’ Public Order Bill is currently in the final stages of being passed into law as amendments are considered.
The bill was designed to explicitly ban some of the tactics used by the recent wave of climate activists. It targets “obstruction” by protesters, specifically those blocking highways or locking-on to infrastructure. Animal Rising said it was taking direct action to “protect the horses at Aintree”. Although it only managed to delay the race, activists still managed to cause widespread chaos at the world’s most famous steeplechase.
Protesters chanted “shame on you” to racegoers and glued themselves to the nearby M57 motorway, causing a deadlock for three hours. The day was also marked by the third horse death of the festival. Hill Sixteen was shot dead after suffering a broken neck.
Disgracefully, its trainer Sandy Thomson tried to saddle protesters with blame, saying the chaos had caused the animal to go “hyper”.
“Supporters of Animal Rising do not take the risk of arrest lightly, but taking action to protect animals and nature is more important than upholding business as usual,” said Nathan.
“This is just the start of many peaceful actions to really create a national conversation about our fractured connection with animals and our natural world this summer, whether they result in arrests or not.” The group is planning “similar disruption to other large events in the animal so-called sports calendar,” Nathan added.
The arrests send a chilling message ahead of environmental protests planned for this week. Extinction Rebellion’s “Big One” will likely see tens of thousands of protesters take to the streets of the capital this weekend.
It marks a significant change of tactics for the group, who are now claiming that this weekend’s activities will include a low chance of arrest of participants. But with the cops seemingly keen to stop animal rights and climate change activists, campaigners should be prepared for them to use new laws to contain and crush protests.
The House of Lords has proposed amendments to the Police Order Bill that blunt some of the Tories’ plans to give the police more power. If accepted, the cops won’t be able to stop a person without suspicion. And they’ll find it harder to ban certain people from protesting. Despite these amendments, the Public Order Bill is dangerous legislation.
It is still possible to resist the clampdown on our right to protest and strike. But effective resistance has to come on the streets rather than the halls of Westminster. That means the passing of the Public Order Bill isn’t the end of the fightback, but only the beginning.
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