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Terrorist sympathisers and woke extremists are “holding our country to ransom”, Liz Truss has warned.
Lord Walney, the Government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption, concluded in a landmark report that police should be given new powers to tackle extreme protest movements.
Extremists are hijacking causes such as climate change and peace demonstrations, “targeting core elements of Britain’s democracy”, Lord Walney said.
And he also suggested those who celebrate terrorist atrocities should be charged with a newly created terrorism offence.
Ministers were on Tuesday night urged to accept all of Lord Walney’s recommendations.
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss said: “Terrorist sympathisers, woke extremists and de-growthers are holding our country to ransom. They make our streets and campuses a no-go zone for upstanding citizens. We must end this intimidation and defend our democracy.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said of Lord Walney’s report: “The vast majority of those involved in protest are law abiding, but we have seen in recent months that protest can create an environment where small numbers of extremists who aim to create division and fuel hatred commit offences.
“These have led to swift arrests in many cases.
“We have also seen that the regular frequency of marches in central London has led some, particularly Jewish Londoners, to change their behaviour out of fear”.
Lord Walney warned “extreme political activists are targeting core elements of Britain’s democracy” and are “targeting supply chains, fuel and energy, transport and business and industry”.
And protests are being “routinely driven by extreme activists” who are “often people who advocate extremist and anti-democratic forms of politics that have little traction with voters and cannot secure real electoral support”.
The police response to violence and mass disruption has “too often been insufficiently robust, particularly when groups are acting on behalf of causes associated with the left”.
Lord Walney added: “Too little attention has been paid to serious forms of violence, intimidation and incitement of hatred on the extreme left.
“Extreme left activists can, in relatively small numbers, cause enormous economic damage and drain police resources.”
He recommended a series of severe changes to “protect our democratic values from intimidation”, such as a blanket ban on face coverings at protests and making it easier for businesses or members of the public to claim damages from activist groups that cause disruption.
He also wants the Government to consider making protest buffer zones around MPs’ constituency offices and local council chambers, in the same way that some abortion clinics will be protected.
The peer backed measures to restrict the ability of some groups to organise and fundraise if they are considered to have a policy of using criminal offences that would lead to a prison term, for example destroying property or causing serious disruption or injury.
Lord Walney also recommended that Justice Secretary Alex Chalk and Lady Chief Justice consider tightening the process around how juries consider cases involving those arrested on protests.
The Government’s independent adviser on political violence warned the UK was at a “crossroads in our democracy”.
Protests are the “bedrock of our nation-state” but “brute force must not be allowed to win the argument”, he said.
