Protester to UK Politician: You Need Anger Management

Mark Field is suspended after roughly escorting Greenpeace's Janet Barker from room
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 21, 2019 2:44 PM CDT

A British officeholder has been suspended by Prime Minister Theresa May after video showed him grabbing a protester at a London event and pushing her out of the room. Mark Field, who is a Conservative Party member of Parliament as well as an officer in the Foreign Office, has apologized, the BBC reports. Field said he was "genuinely worried" that Janet Barker was armed when she and other Greenpeace protesters interrupted a dinner speech by Britain's chancellor. Barker said the group—whose members wore black tie, red dresses and sashes reading "climate emergency"—was polite. She said they only wanted to speak to "men who are in power, the bankers, the investors that are continuing to invest into fossil fuels."

Barker said she was trying to distribute copies of a climate crisis speech the protesters hoped to deliver when an angry Field grabbed her by the neck and arm, per the Guardian. "When we got to the door, he shoved me outside on to the street, and said, 'This is what happens when people like you disturb our dinner,'" she said. Field will be suspended from the Foreign Office post during an investigation. There will be an assessment of security for future events, as well; Field had noted the lack of security. No arrests were made, and Barker declined to press charges. "I think it is something best dealt with in the court of opinion," she said, while suggesting Field attend anger management classes. Labor lawmakers called for Field to step down, per CNN, with one saying he "should resign and be arrested. I don't care in what order." (More Greenpeace stories.)

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