Protests outside city council meetings are not a new thing.
Such is the very nature of our democracy, making your voice heard and speaking truth to power is effectively enshrined in an unwritten social contract between us and the people we choose to govern us. What happens, though, when protest turns from respectable debate to outright peddling of conspiracy theories and potentially dangerous discourse?
It transpired that 2023 became the year that a seemingly sensible piece of local authority policy brought together an ex-footballer, loudhailers and climate change theorists.
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This summer, Liverpool Council confirmed it would adopt a new model that will create 13 administrative areas, each led by a senior manager who will be permanently situated in the location. They will each work with departments across the council to highlight and tackle the key issues in the area, be it housing, waste management, potholes, parking, or anti-social behaviour.
New staff are to join the council from January. The new neighbourhoods will not change the ward boundaries in which people live or lead to things like a name change.
However, some felt this meant it would lead to the adoption and misappropriation of the 15-minute cities concept. This is a planning theory that proposes the redesign of neighbourhoods to ensure vital amenities are within easy reach.
Before city council committee meetings in July and September, demonstrators were situated on opposite sides of Water Street in tense scenes. Banners and placards were held aloft while both sides chanted.
Activists equipped with banners sought to air their grievances over widely debunked theories around 15-minute cities and how the new 13 neighbourhood areas across Liverpool would infringe on their civil liberties.
With a beefed up police presence around the Town Hall and Water Street, campaigners played music and chanted as councillors stood in front of the main door of the building. Banners were held with slogans such as “say no to Liverpool 13 zones,” “climate change is a hoax” and “we do not consent.”
Some campaigners said they felt they would be barred from leaving their designated areas under the scheme and ultimately fined for doing so. This is not true.
Another said: “We are not about left or right, it’s about our rights. We’re here for our children’s future and freedom.”
A number of speeches were made on loudhailers accusing councillors of being part of the “Labour communist party” and “selling out to the World Economic Forum” while being sold to Microsoft founder Bill Gates. The rally was attended by, among others, Rickie Lambert, the former Liverpool FC striker who had actively promoted the event on social media.
Posting ahead of the meeting, Mr Lambert wrote: “People of Liverpool, start researching 15 minute city’s (sic) because they are coming our way very shortly if we allow it! WE DO NOT CONSENT!!!”
Kirkby-born Mr Lambert, 41, added how September’s protest was “just the start.” He then took aim at Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson, claiming it was “very strange” to see her at the demonstrations with “Liverpool Council paid antiva calling us fascists!”
In a reply to another user, the former pro capped 11 times for England accused Liverpool Council of “very sneaky tactics", adding: “they won’t be enough if you continue to ignore your people. The town hall belongs to us and we put people in there who represent us so if you continue to ignore your people then we will remove you.”
The protest remained largely peaceful, bar a brief minor scuffle as individuals dressed in balaclavas and dark clothing clashed.
After the council meeting got underway, demonstrators moved towards Derby Square outside the court buildings where speakers said it was a “battle” and they would be saved by God. One speaker, wearing The People’s Resistance hoodie, said “I know you will all be in the streets when they lock us down,” adding: “Your children and grandchildren will thank you… we are on the right side of history, they are wrong.”
In a bid to keep elected members safe, on both occasions councillors had to be smuggled out of a side door at Liverpool Town Hall.
Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool Council, said: “We often talk about the neighbourhood model which I’m very conscious to some is just a slogan, but what it should mean is a focus on the detail; the way we sweep the streets, the way we empty the bins, the way we deal with a problem house that might be down the road and the fact the neighbourhood managers will be landing in the first couple of weeks in January will start to give us some investment in our communities to pull together all the different services we deliver and tackle some of those difficult and challenging things.
"It won’t solve everything but it’ll give us a focus that we haven’t had for quite a few years. People judge things on how they see things fitting together in their street, in their community.
"There’s a lot of good stuff we do and a lot of hard work by members across the council, but we’re hoping the new model will give the opportunity to give a bit more support to communities, that we can do things that focus on things that are specifically an issue in that part of the city. We hope it’ll give people the opportunity to see things step by step improving because that’s what it has to be about.
"We’ve always got to be better at what we’re doing in the council and the public sector. While we get a small handful of conspiracy theories from people getting the wrong end of the stick, the vast majority of people across the city want us to be focused on these issues and are pleased we are, not just talk about it, crack on and deliver it.
“It’s disappointing when you get some of the protests and some of the characters that turn up, but they’re a very fringe element and thankfully, because overall the vast majority of people in this city aren’t just great people but also understand what we need to do to improve the city.”
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