This afternoon the Home Secretary chaired a meeting at 10 Downing
Street, bringing together voices from government, police and
sports to ensure major British events this summer are protected
from criminal disruption.
The Home Secretary, alongside the Culture Secretary, held this
roundtable as Just Stop Oil disrupted matches at the Wimbledon
Tennis Championship.
The Home Secretary made clear the government will support police
and event leaders to prevent protesters from frustrating fans and
competitors at sporting events. She committed to a continued
dialogue with event organisers to ensure lessons are learnt from
recent stunts by selfish activists set on spoiling these
occasions.
Home Secretary said:
“The protesters at Wimbledon were determined to ruin the day’s
play for spectators and sports fans across the world.
“This is unacceptable. We will be uncompromisingly tough on the
selfish protesters intent on spoiling our world-class sporting
occasions this summer.
“The discussions I chaired at Downing Street were very
productive. Sports, police and government are united against
preventing further disruption of this kind.”
The Home Secretary backed police and sports organisers to take
swift action to preserve events taking place this summer.
Identifying risks early, mitigating and eliminating them, backed
by swift enforcement action will be central to this approach.
The government provided police with a clear definition of serious
disruption earlier this year, making clear forces should treat
repeatedly disruptive protests as sustained campaigns, not
standalone events.
Culture Secretary said:
"We convened a roundtable of event organisers and the police to
redouble efforts to prevent further disruption to the Great
British Summer of Sport, as we have seen at Wimbledon.
"We must protect the right to peaceful protest, but that does not
give licence to a vocal minority to spoil events that millions of
us enjoy.
"Anyone thinking of attempting to disrupt these events should
think again."
The Policing Minister, , and the Minister for Sport,
, also pledged to continue
close contact with law enforcement and cultural sectors to grip
the issue ahead of major events including Silverstone.
Public order and events leads from the National Police Chiefs’
Council and National Police Co-ordination Centre updated
attendees on preparations at others events this summer, including
intelligence gathering to foil activists’ plans.
Sporting organisations shared their efforts to reinforce security
with stewards, consider securing more injunctions to allow
officers to act quickly against disruption and see more
individuals who undertake guerrilla protest acts face prison
sentences.
Other national bodies and event organisers in attendance were:
- Lawn Tennis Association
- England and Wales Cricket Board
- Racecourse Association
- British Horseracing Authority
- Rugby Football League
- Rugby Football Union
- Premier League
- English Football League
- The R&A
- Professional Darts Corporation
- Greyhound Board of Great Britain
- Ascot Racecourse
- Silverstone Circuits
- Arena Racing
- World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
The government recently introduced new legislation through the
Public Order Act 2023, criminalising actions such as ‘locking
on’. Police will also be able to stop and search protesters for
items like padlocks and superglue if they suspect they are
setting out to cause chaos. The measures will help tackle tactics
seen at Premier League games last year, where protesters used
cable ties to attach themselves to goalposts.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 also made it
easier to tackle public nuisance caused by protesters. This has
assisted police in making swift arrests, as seen at the Grand
National in April where 118 activists were arrested for
attempting to breach the track and the event was back on course
in twelve minutes.
