Don’t celebrate the departure of Extinction Rebellion

After a long period of disruption, the Metropolitan Police’s decision to crack down on Extinction Rebellion and clear them from the streets was greeted with cheers across the capital last week.

The actions of the police are certainly understandable. This month, the Met had to request urgent reinforcements from dozens of forces across the country, including 100 officers from Scotland. And if the idea of Scots keeping the peace in the English capital wasn’t embarrassing enough for the force, the newcomers rubbed salt in the wound by leaving Scottish police stickers on the Met’s vehicles.

Londoners, many of whom are sympathetic to the movement, have also had their patience stretched. Scenes of otherwise civilised tube commuters reverting to a state of nature when faced with troublemakers suggests that the Extinction Rebellion activists were lucky to end up in the hands of the law, rather than the public.

Yet, as easy as it is to take a degree of unkind amusement in tales of earnest Extinction Rebellion activists being unglued from tents by police, I’ve cautioned myself against relief. Consider