The number of climate activists referred to the Prevent anti-terrorism programme has increased following the emergence of disruptive environmental protests, the BBC has learned.
He said the fear of being flagged to police in a Prevent referral could deter people from protesting, and argued the rise in environmental cases reasons “shows how confused we’ve become about all of this”.
In response to a freedom of information request, the UK’s police chiefs told the BBC there were 32 Prevent referrals for “Left Wing - Environmental” reasons between 2015 and 2022.
The Home Office said there were fewer than 10 referrals for environmental reasons each year between 2015 and 2022, but refused to release specific figures, citing safety and privacy concerns.
Earlier this year, Amnesty International urged the UK government to scrap the Prevent duty in a report condemning its impact on human rights.
Mat Osmond, who’s a senior lecturer at Falmouth University in Cornwall, told the BBC his employer asked him to re-take Prevent training after he helped to organise a student Just Stop Oil talk on campus last year.
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The number of climate activists referred to the Prevent anti-terrorism programme has increased following the emergence of disruptive environmental protests, the BBC has learned.
He said the fear of being flagged to police in a Prevent referral could deter people from protesting, and argued the rise in environmental cases reasons “shows how confused we’ve become about all of this”.
In response to a freedom of information request, the UK’s police chiefs told the BBC there were 32 Prevent referrals for “Left Wing - Environmental” reasons between 2015 and 2022.
The Home Office said there were fewer than 10 referrals for environmental reasons each year between 2015 and 2022, but refused to release specific figures, citing safety and privacy concerns.
Earlier this year, Amnesty International urged the UK government to scrap the Prevent duty in a report condemning its impact on human rights.
Mat Osmond, who’s a senior lecturer at Falmouth University in Cornwall, told the BBC his employer asked him to re-take Prevent training after he helped to organise a student Just Stop Oil talk on campus last year.
The original article contains 1,271 words, the summary contains 179 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!