Is anticipatory repression the UK's new normal?

Conspiracy to come up with a reason to arrest anyone they want

Last night The Met barged their way into the Westminster Quaker Meeting House again, and arrested 15 people who were attending a Non Violent Direct Action (NVDA) training session run by Take Back Power who had hired a room in the building.

Raid at NVDA training on 5 March. Image courtesy of Take Back Power.

The first time The Met raided the Quaker building “in living memory”, according to Paul Parker the recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, was less than a year ago in March 2025. That day 20 uniformed police officers, some with tasers, broke open the door to the building and arrested a small group of young women who were attending a public meeting organised by Youth Demand. While the Quakers have no direct affiliation with Youth Demand or Take Back Power, nonviolent public protest is embedded in Quaker DNA which explains their willingness to hire out a room for such meetings. Their own press release about yesterday’s incident states:

“Whilst we take the planning of criminal acts very seriously, we believe that this incident is a deliberate targeting of committed young people who want to make our country a more equitable place. This raid is part of a systematic stifling of dissent.

“That this is the second time in a year that the police have raided our meeting house dramatically illuminates the broader trend in the UK of cracking down on those who disagree with the government. The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy. It’s a key part of how people make their voices heard between elections.”

What is Non Violent Direct Action (NVDA) training? In 2022 when I began following climate activists for my documentary film The Line We Crossed I was able to observe a day of NVDA training organised by Just Stop Oil. I went along because I was curious. Back then, in 2022, it did not even cross my mind that the police may turn up and start arresting people on a training course. Now it seems de rigueur!

The early roots of NVDA go back as far as Thoreau in the mid 1800s. In his essay Civil Disobedience he argued that citizens should refuse unjust laws. NVDA was also central to Gandhi’s practice of nonviolent resistance, satyagraha, which means “truth-force”. The birth of modern NVDA training came about in the 1940’s and 50’s with the racial equality and pacificist movements. Their training prepared participants for actions such as the Freedom Rides and sit-ins. And then of course, NVDA was widely used in the sixties Civil Rights Movement and it was at the heart of The Greenham Common movement.

A 1982 protest at USAF Greenham Common in 1982 / CC 3.0: Rabbitspawphotos

Today’s NVDA training leans heavily on the training that was developed in 70s and 80s by the peace and anti-nuclear movements. While Just Stop Oil announced in March 2025 that it was stopping direct action, Take Back Power has spawned from its ashes, and so I assume that yesterday’s NVDA training will have been similar to that I witnessed.

Direct action groups normally make it a requirement to do NVDA training before taking part in a direct action. It helps maintain discipline and equips people with skills to remain nonviolent under assault. If a protest is able to remain nonviolent it is also far more likely to garner public support.

The training involves thoughtful ethical and strategic discussion. It is also practical, with role-playing being a key part. Participants experience what it is like to have someone shout aggressively in their face and to try not to react; what it is like to be pushed and manhandled; and what it is like to “go floppy” and be carried away by five people. There is advice and exercises on de-escalation too. Trainees learn about their legal rights and how to prepare for arrests - a key principle of NVDA is that you should expect to be arrested and not try to avoid it. The training itself can form part of your decision making process as to whether you want to try direct action or not.

If you are attending NVDA training, and you are not the trainer, it implies you have probably not previously taken part in organised NVDA. If you had, you would not need to go on the training. It is likely therefore that some of those arrested yesterday may have been ‘newbies’ to direct action and far from hardened criminals. Arresting people doing NVDA training sounds like a policy of “let’s shut them down before they even start”, a form of state repression that smacks of authoritarian regimes. It is not surprising to hear therefore that, reportedly, one of the arrestees suffered a panic attack so severe an ambulance had to be called. They had gone there expecting to role-play a situation, not have it happen for real.

Attending the training does not mean you will definitely go on to take part in a direct action. At the training I witnessed, there were about 30 people in attendance but I only recall seeing two people from that group go on take part in a Just Stop Oil direct action. What these arrests demonstrate is the extent to which we have fallen into “anticipatory repression”. Harley Wishart talks to this concept eruditely in her recent article. We find ourselves in ‘Minority Report territory’ when UK citizens are arrested for future crimes they may - or may not - commit.

The Met Police’s justification for yesterday’s arrests were that they had intelligence that Take Back Power were planning a campaign that would have seen them steal from high street supermarkets before redistributing the stolen goods elsewhere. Take Back Power are not denying that. They even said so in their own newsletter:

We are planning to redistribute food from supermarkets, but as they earn billions for their shareholders from the millions going hungry, who are the real thieves?

So here we get to the sticky question. When is it acceptable for the police to intervene? The act of attending NVDA training does not mean you are definitely going to be one of the future shoplifters, the act that is a criminal offence. Attending a training course should not be a criminal act, but these days it feels like the police can just stick the words “conspiracy to …” in front of anything they like to justify raiding meetings and arresting people.

And if you start policing for potential future crimes based on intelligence, what happens if the intelligence is wrong? That was the case at The Coronation. A number of Just Stop Oil protesters were arrested that day for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. After 6 months “under investigation” the charges against them were dropped because of “insufficient evidence.” They did not find evidence of the paint or the lock on devices they thought they might find when they arrested and searched them. All they discovered were the Just Stop Oil t-shirts they were wearing and some orange flags. Let it be noted, it is not yet a crime to wear a t-shirt - unless it has the name of a proscribed organisation on it - or to wave an orange flag.

Screenshot from the film The Line We Crossed.

On the morning of The Coronation in May 2023 a group of people attending NVDA training run by Animal Rising were also arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance. The flipboard was out, they were drinking coffee and were in a meeting room in Hackney about 5 miles away from where the royal procession was due to pass. One attendee commented that,

“My intention was to sit in an all-day training course learning about non-violent protests, meet some new people and avoid the coronation.”

It turned out that the farcicle Animal Rising Coronation arrests happened because they were using a room that had previously been used by Just Stop Oil. So much for the intelligence the police had that day.

Civil disobedience is covered by covenants that the UK government themselves are signatories to. In my interview with UN Special Rapporteur Michel Forst he is quite clear about where the line is when it comes to civil disobedience.

[…] they have decided to use civil disobedience, which for me responds to four criteria: That people know pretty well they are breaking the law, that means that they are ready to face a tribunal. It should be, second criteria, public - to break the law in public. To protest against a sort of unjust law. It should be also done nonviolently. And the clause of nonviolence for me is very important. The international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, clearly says that the right to protest, covers civil disobedience.

One of the principles of NVDA is that you do it in public and own it. You understand that there will be consequences for your actions. This is why after someone sprays a monument with paint, or throws soup on a painting, you will see them stay at the scene and wait to be arrested. I do not know how, or if, Take Back Power, were planning to let themselves be arrested for the shoplifting but in their first two actions they have stuck to that principle.

Take Back Power activist after throwing apple crumble over a glass case displaying crown jewels.

The ability for the police to contain dissent in advance is possible because of the introduction of new anti-protest laws in recent years. Not only do they give the police more powers to arrest, but those laws are vague and thus open to abuse. The “conspiracy to cause a […]” laws are a case in point. Yesterday’s cohort were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft. In The Line We Crossed we witness multiple instances of people arrested for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. By the end of the film, people are being picked up off the street by the police on conspiracy charges left right and centre. It is one thing to be arrested if you are caught red handed with an angle grinder and super glue at an airport perimeter fence (that did happen), but being arrested while out walking in the street, or having lunch with your mother, in anticipation that you might possibly be someone who could be conspiring to commit a future criminal offence to disrupt an airport is more problematic.

If you cannot organise, if you cannot meet with other dissenters to discuss civil disobedience, then a critical component of effective protest action is shut down. If you cannot protest effectively you are living in an authoritarian state and democracy has died.

And besides all that, it feels like a kind of dumb thing to do. If the aim of The Met is to shut down Take Back Power, raiding a Quaker meeting house not once, but twice, seems a foolish move. Raids like that get headlines and give the group oxygen. This article is a case in point: I would not have been writing about them today if the police had not made those arrests. While those arrests may deter some from getting involved in this new movement, I would not be surprised if the publicity, courtesy of The Met, will have the effect of increasing their support.

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I would like to acknowledge Dr Lynne Jones’ book, Sorry for the Inconvenience But This Is an Emergency, as a helpful reference in writing this article:

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THE LINE WE CROSSED

Screenings of The Line We Crossed with in-person Q&As are continuing in March and April.

On 10th March it is showing at Sands Film Club in Rotherhithe.

On 23rd March (rather appropriately given this article) it is screening at The Quakers Friends Meeting House in Euston.

On 29 March it is in the cinema at Pavilion in Galashiels.

And, hot off the press, we can now announce that it will be showing in the cinema at Showroom in Sheffield on 7 April.

🎟 Tickets and screening details:

The Line We Crossed Screenings: linktr.ee/thelinewecrossed

Want to watch it now? The film is now available to stream.

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THE CONSPIRACISTS

The UK cinema tour for my documentary The Conspiracists has begun with a screening at the beautiful Hebden Bridge Picture House — the first stop in what will be a series of screenings and discussions around the country. Thank you to Su O’Brien for her in depth review of that film screening.

We are now preparing for our April London cinema release. I will be joined by author and participant in the film, Noelle Cook, for what is lining up to be a fascinating week-long series of screening and Q&As.

Already confirmed as Q&A hosts are Deborah Frances-White (The Guilty Feminist), Jennifer Nadel (Compassion in Politics) and Marina Cantacuzino (The Forgiveness Project).

🎟 Tickets and screening details:

The Conspiracists Screenings: linktr.ee/theconspiracists

Every ticket sold helps us keep making independent human rights documentaries. If you’re local to a screening, I’d love to meet you there — and if not, sharing the events with others who might be interested really helps.