What UK Pressure Groups have used violence and/or broken the law since 2000?

Question by Manda: What UK Pressure Groups have used violence and/or broken the law since 2000?
Which UK Pressure Groups have
broken the law or used violence since 2000 to get there point across, what did they do and which year?

Best answer:

Answer by Charles K
— ‘Rural rebels’ blockade border
The demonstration, which was staged by a group called the Rural Rebels, saw two lorries and a Range Rover line up with each other and travel south at very slow speeds.
The demonstrators claim the Scottish Executive and Westminster government is ignoring the needs of the countryside.
The group oppose Mike Watson’s hunting ban bill
There was no sign of a similar slow-moving convoy that was said to have been planned for the M74 northbound.
However, the protesters did bring disruption to other Scotland-England road links – the A68 and the A1 in the Scottish Borders.
In the M74 protest, supporters of the Rural Rebels, clad in orange boiler suits, travelled behind the blockading vehicles, honking their horns in support.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/1710710.stm ———————- Pressure group turns violent after stunts fail
GalleryPublished Date: 20 May 2004
By TANYA THOMPSON
ONLY three months ago, insiders at Fathers 4 Justice told The Scotsman that physical attacks on politicians and the judiciary would be the next stage of their campaign.
Sources at the pressure group have continually threatened an escalation of violence and are prepared to go to jail to highlight their cause.
“This is a ticking time-bomb. I’m surprised nothing violent has happened already,” said an insider. “If you were walking down the street and someone forcibly removed your child, you would use any means, including violence, to stop them. I would be very surprised if violence isn’t used.”

Members have become increasingly audacious in their attempts to gain publicity, and this latest incident involving the Prime Minister has afforded them valuable exposure.

The group says it will soon have 10,000 members, and more than 50 fathers are ready to volunteer to climb a crane, scale buildings, invade courtrooms or block major roads. Protesters have already demonstrated outside the Lord Chancellor’s office and the Royal Courts of Justice, daubing its doors with purple paint, the colour said to symbolise equality. Although most of the action has been in England, campaigners have warned that Scotland will be their next target.http://news.scotsman.com/houseofcommonssecurity/Pressure-group-turns-violent-after.2530323.jp —————— Some rural pressure groups have used direct action to express their concerns with issues such as school closures and the ban of hunting with dogs. The ‘Rural Rebels’ pressure group, felt that the democratic process was failing them, so turned to a campaign of demonstrations. Blockading the M74 and releasing foxhounds in Holyrood park were part of their efforts to win a “soundbites and pictures war” to get their message across http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/outsider-pressure-groups/4049.html ————- The clip uses Greenpeace and Amnesty International as examples of successful pressure groups. The clip explains the tactics that pressure groups can use for their chosen cause: advertising and publicity, demonstrations, boycotts. These should take place within the law or the group may undermine their cause and wider support.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/pressure-groups/5620.html ———– The Scottish Council for Single Homeless lobbies parliamentary civil servants directly and takes part in committee meetings to work towards a long term policy on homelessness. Sometimes the government will directly approach a pressure group for advice. This can give a group like Age Concern more influence but also brings greater accountability. Business lobbyists also work to ensure that politicians consider commercial concerns in their decision making. The clip should be taken in the context of the time it was made; post 2003 Scottish Parliament election
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/insider-pressure-groups/4048.html

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