It’s interesting to contrast the indignation of those who object to the Just Stop Oil protesters (Letters, 26 July) with what happened in 2000 when truckers and farmers brought the whole country to a halt by using their rigs and tractors to block our highways and petrol stations and cause problems for key workers, along with the cancellation of NHS operations.
The Tory party started it off by encouraging a day of protest (which turned out to be much longer) and the Tory press roared its support. I always saw it as an opportunity for the right to take a whack at a hitherto popular Labour party with any stick that became handy. And it’s funny that I don’t remember a single report of a trucker or farmer being arrested, let alone jailed. Some of your correspondents are objecting to protesters causing disruption because of their opinions. Climate change is a scientific fact, not an opinion.
David Redshaw
Saltdean, East Sussex
I must respond to the letters from Michael Daniell and Nigel Hooper. The main reason why protests become more disruptive is that the media fails to cover peaceful protests – one example being the Restore Nature Now march in June, which involved thousands of individuals and families, and hundreds of local and national groups, raising their concerns about the environment by peacefully walking the streets of London – almost completely ignored by the press and TV (Channel 4 a notable exception). Is it surprising that more extreme actions are taken?
Cath Attlee
London
Rowena Beighton-Dykes asks in her letter if the Just Stop Oil activists would have been given such lengthy jail terms if they had blocked the M62 rather than the M25. Regular users of the M62 are probably wondering if anybody would have noticed any difference.
Nick Odell
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
