Police admit reporting disabled anti-fracking protesters to DWP – to have their benefits cancelled?

Discrimination: The man on the floor is Nick Sheldrick, who is paralysed from the waist down. Protesters say police pushed him out of his wheelchair during an anti-fracking protest in Lancashire during July 2017. Police said they were moving him out of the way of a lorry, but they would, wouldn’t they?

Is this fascism?

People with disabilities who exercised their right to protest against fracking (in accordance with the United Nations convention) are being reported to the Department for Work and Pensions by Lancashire police, apparently in the hope that their benefits will be cancelled as punishment for daring to leave their homes.

According to Disability News Service, police forces have been accused of targeting disabled people involved in anti-fracking protests with violence [see the image above for a possible example] – and now protesters in Lancashire have accused their local police of passing information to the DWP.

DWP practices mean anyone investigated for fraud has their benefits stopped before any guilt or innocence is proved. This has prompted some to say that malicious prompting of disabled people for benefit fraud – without evidence – should be considered a hate crime:

It seems Lancashire Police had no such evidence, despite their tweeted claim:

Information to suggest fraud may be being committed, is it? John Pring of DNS asked the obvious question:

But what “clearly suggests fraud may be being committed”, if disabled people are out at a protest? Tom Artingstall put the question in its baldest possible terms: “So, to be clear, @LancsPolice officially consider disabled persons being outside their homes to ‘clearly suggest that fraud may be being committed’? Please confirm or clarify your official position.”

I have seen no response to this question. In its absence, members of the public have been led to draw their own conclusions.

Katie de Long, for example, pointed out: “You are encouraging officers to exercise rampant ableist bias in the hopes of frightening disabled people out of protesting. You can’t tell someone’s med status from looking at them- and encouraging reassessment of benefits is a form of retaliation. Shame on you, every one.”

FeistyWeevil picked up on the wording used by the police spokesperson: “Clearly suggests? How? Example: To be eligible for PIP a claimant’s impairment(s) has to affect their ability to complete an activity on more than 50% of days in a 12 month period, not ALL the time. You are meddling in something you have no place in out of spite. Unprofessional.”

Evander suggested: “So you aren’t “qualified to make any medical assessments” but still decide that simply being outside as a disabled person “clearly suggests fraud”? You know nothing about the sheer amount of diseases and conditions, including ones that fluctuate.”

And This Site’s old friend Paula Peters concluded: “There is a thing called the Right to Protest as ratified by the UN convention. The actions of your police force & officers are horrendous and disgusting. Attacking disabled protestors then reporting them Is the lowest of the low. No wonder you are called the enemy of the state.”

There is more to this story than meets the eye.

Consider the following thread by Mark Brown:

“As a disabled person your life is subject to others’ tolerance.” “Disabled people and people with mental health difficulties have been pushed to the edge of [our] community.” “As a result of 15 years of anti-benefits rhetoric, [the] public feels it has [the] right to subject those it does not like to scrutiny and try [to] grass them up maliciously.”

Isn’t that exactly the kind of “othering” that happens in fascist states? Minorities to be persecuted are treated as somehow less than the favoured majority and it is intimated that they should not enjoy the same rights as the rest of society. So, when they are persecuted by the public, the authorities turn a blind eye. And when they are persecuted by the authorities, who will stand up for them?

Mr Brown concluded: “In a different culture, one free from the suspicion of Disabled people, it would not cross anyone’s mind to even question someone’s right to benefits because they were demonstrating. In this one, it’s too many peoples first thought. ‘How dare you be in need and also a person?'”

The Labour Party has challenged the Conservative government on this attitude, likening it to the “hostile environment” policy inflicted on people from foreign countries who were invited into the UK to rebuild our nation after the ravages of World War II, and then persecuted them when Theresa May decided they were no longer needed.

And, as Marsha de Cordova pointed out in Parliament, the effects of this policy are more far-reaching than an attempt to cause trouble for a few disabled protesters:

So, again, I ask: Is this fascism? I think so. And I wonder – it isn’t very many years since the UK stood as a beacon of hope against fascist states and the discrimination – the persecution – they promote. How did we allow our nation to become the enemy?

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12 Comments

  1. Jeffrey Davies December 24, 2018 at 5:55 am - Reply

    aktion t4 by the state police only following orders

  2. Alas Poor Uric December 24, 2018 at 9:54 am - Reply

    Excellent post Mike. It is clear that this is proto-fascism. The Tory Party ‘nudge unit’ groomed the populace for this right from the start. But we need to be clear, as mark brown intimates, that this ‘othering’ started during the Blair years and is an utter stain of shame on the recent history of the Labour Party.

    The Tories then picked up on the work of Blair and pumped it with steroids so that phrases like:

    ‘doing the right thing’
    ‘those that get up in the morning’
    ‘Skivers and strivers’
    ‘those with their blinds drawn’

    became mental wallpaper and created a culture where blame for the ghastly financial system’s failure was channeled onto the vulnerable.

    I, for one, will NEVER forgive the Tories for this and will fight them until my last breath. The Tories are utter low-lifers, scam merchants and vile cheapskates, a blight on the potential for human decency.

  3. Barry Davies December 24, 2018 at 10:24 am - Reply

    How were they protecting someone by shoving him out of his wheelchair in the middle of the road? Shades of death race 2000.

  4. Roy Haydon December 24, 2018 at 11:04 am - Reply

    Don’t forget that 90% of police are tories fodder we will will remember their actions when they need help in future this is a sorry state of affairs caused by maybot and her dialeks.

  5. Michael McNulty December 24, 2018 at 11:15 am - Reply

    When all our water is polluted with fracking chemicals we might all become disabled as our vital organs shut down in the last days of our lives. That includes the police.

  6. L Needham December 24, 2018 at 11:51 am - Reply

    PLEASE BUY A COPY OF THE LITTLE, CARY AROUND BOOKLET …SO THEY SAY YOU’VE BROKEN THE LAW…BY THE LIONESS. IN IT YOU WILL LEARN THE SIMPLE STEPS TO LAWFUL STAND YOUR RIGHT NOT TO BE SUBJECT TO UNLAWFUL AUTHORITY. IT IS FANTASTIC.

  7. nmac064 December 24, 2018 at 12:09 pm - Reply

    This is very sinister. Very sinister indeed. Another step towards Nazi Britain.

  8. Maggie December 24, 2018 at 12:20 pm - Reply

    Thank you for reporting on this. It is appalling. If I were a disabled person claiming benefits I would be afraid to protest. Appeals against DWP can take months. The stress, anxiety, fear would be unbearable. There must be something we can do. Mike, do you know who the police commissioner is for Lancashire. It may be worth contacting him/her to stop this apparent cruel, disgusting and spiteful practice.

  9. trev December 24, 2018 at 4:37 pm - Reply

    This is both despicable and very worrying. The UK has sleep-walked into a Fascist State. Time to don your yellow vest….

  10. Rik December 24, 2018 at 8:58 pm - Reply

    the snidy police grassing up disabled people so as to get their benefits stopped . . I once felt sorry for the police re: the actions of Tory Government sacking 21.000 officers. slashed funding. no pay rises.
    What a low thing to do . .
    Roll on 2019 and let’s hope JC will be the Country’s next leader PM ..

  11. Pat Sheehan December 24, 2018 at 11:40 pm - Reply

    Is this fascism? I know you think so Mr Sivier and I understand you need to be very careful what you say in your position but the Concise Oxford Dictionary is very clear and unequivocal regarding the term Fascism and what it is and what it is not.
    Fascism is a politically organized group of nationalists and anti-communists in dictatorship enforcing a system of extreme right-wing and authoritarian views and principles! Not much room for political manoeuvre there I don’t think and if the cap fits then Joe-tory must wear it. Nobody likes being called a fascist of course: least of all a fascist. Apparently it’s from the latin for ‘bundle’ which sounds about right. It’s hardly a new phenomena though: it’s probably been around as long as hominids: there’s probably a fascist gene and treatment will be available shortly! Meanwhile we either put up with it or shovel it where we shovel our s***e!

  12. Kathy Penney December 27, 2018 at 6:31 am - Reply

    ‘People with disabilities who exercised their right to protest against fracking (in accordance with the United Nations convention)’ Can someone tell me which UN convention this refers to?

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