Why is Extinction Rebellion being given such an easy ride? It isn’t hard to imagine the outrage which would rightly follow if, say, Brexiteers were to smash windows, block roads and bridges in the cause of trying to force the government into a no-deal Brexit. We would never hear the last of the Guardian condemning them for ‘fascist’ methods and attempting to bypass democracy. Yet Extinction Rebellion has been allowed to get away with all this for the past three days with hardly a murmur of protest from government ministers, MPs, commentators or anyone else.
The whole things seems to have been treated a great big joke. While police have made almost 300 arrests, many have been released straight away and allowed to go back to their protests – one such protester even popped up for a soft interview on the Today programme this morning. Only when the group threatened to close down the tube did Mayor of London Sadiq Khan raise an objection.
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