Following the first round of XR protests in April, the Met was accused of treating the demonstrations with “indulgence” by one pundit. A recent report from the Network of Police Monitoring (Netpol) lays bare just how “robust” the police response was. Netpol found that disabled protesters were systematically discriminated against. In Lancashire, protesters were arrested for small infringements such as stepping off the pavement and on to the road. Even more sinister is the case of Lancashire police admitting passing footage of disabled protesters to the DWP – seemingly so that their eligibility for benefits could be scrutinised.

Source: The Guardian December 18, 2019 12:30 UTC