Just Stop Oil activist Heather Wilde challenges media portrayal of recent riots

A Just Stop Oil protester who was arrested during peaceful demonstrations last year has criticised the “framing” of recent riots across the country.

Heather Wilde, of Lincoln, says those in power have been “legitimising hate” to enable “racist attacks and riots by far-right individuals".

Riots have been taking place up and down the country over the last week in spates of what the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer calls “far-right thuggery”.

Incidents have seen police officers attacked, shops burned and looted, and vehicles damaged in what appears to be a response to the horrific mass stabbing incident in Southport on July 29.

There are suggestions that similar riots will make their way to Lincolnshire this week, with the Lincolnshire Police saying it is “aware” of the reports, and Lincolnshire Police & Crime Commissioner Marc Jones saying the force has “plans in place” to “support and protect our community should any need arise.”

Heather has experience in police interactions during protests, but her tale is one of a more peaceful nature than the riots of the last week.

She was arrested by the Metropolitan Police last October under section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023, which bans any act that “interferes with the use or operation of any key national infrastructure in England and Wales.”

This happened during a Just Stop Oil protest in London, where dozens of protestors marched through Westminster before laying on the ground to block traffic.

Heather was one of 61 people arrested in the space of 30 minutes in connection with this protest, and says she was held in a cell until “late into the night” before being given a banning order from entering the capital until 2024.

She feels the treatment of environmental activists like Just Stop Oil, both by police officers and the media, has “disparities” between the treatment and coverage of recent events.

“It has been shocking to see these racist attacks and riots by far-right individuals in this country,” she told reporters.

“Also shocking, though not entirely surprising, has been the framing of these acts by the authorities and mainstream media.

“As someone who has been involved in peaceful protest for environmental justice for some time now, it has been shocking to see the disparities between peaceful protest and racist and Islamophobic riots over the weekend.”

Heather pointed to the five Just Stop Oil protestors who were recently sentenced to over 20 years in prison collectively for ‘conspiracy to cause public nuisance’ by co-ordinating plans to block the M25 in 2022.

She also says blame lies at the door of political figures, and specifically the platforming of “anti-migrant rhetoric” from the likes of Suella Braverman (Conservative) and Nigel Farage (Reform UK).

“Far right violence has not happened in a vacuum,” she added.

“It is a result of austerity policies and decades of politicians scapegoating Muslims, migrants and people of colour for the destruction they themselves have wrought onto our communities.”

She also feels media outlets have a lot to answer for, arguing that lending air-time to the far right “builds momentum and can lend legitimacy” in the cause, and arguing that the narratives used to describe protestors like her are more cutting and forthright.

“Peaceful climate activists were deemed ‘eco-terrorists’ by media outlets, whereas this rioting and violence has been described as ‘pro-British’.

“After (Sir Keir) Starmer’s announcement where he stated these were not protests, but pure violence, perhaps the narrative may shift”.