A DUP MP has questioned the handing out of penalties to protestors who held up traffic in opposition to the soaring cost of fuel.

Carla Lockhart suggested that they may not have broken the law, and questioned how officers were able to distinguish between protestors and uninvolved motorists.

She was adding her voice to similar concerns raised by TUV MLA Timothy Gaston, who had complained in particular about the penalties handed to those who took part in Tuesday’s ‘go slow’ protest on the Sydenham Bypass in Belfast.

Ms Lockhart has now likewise written to the chief constable to voice her own “grave concerns".

placeholder image — Tractors, trucks and other agricultural vehicles did laps of the Nutts Corner roundabout in Co Antrim, briefly disrupting traffic as police looked on on Tuesday afternoon (Stephen Davison). There was also some disruption outside Toomebridge the same day

In addition, TUV MP Jim Allister has said it is relevant to compare the treatment of the fuel protestors with similar demonstrations in GB, and with the lawbreakers at the Bobby Storey funeral.

The PSNI has declined to give an up-to-date figure on the number of fixed penalties and cautions meted out to protestors this week, though the number of the former is at least nine.

Ms Lockhart said that, as well as the penalty notices handed out during protests, PSNI visits to some protestors’ homes afterwards have “caused significant concern”.

The DUP said “it had been represented to her that some individuals who have received fixed penalty notices were not engaged in conduct meeting the legal threshold for offences such as careless or dangerous driving”.

Ms Lockhart added that “it is not immediately clear how distinctions have been drawn between those actively organising or leading the protest, and those who may have been travelling along the same routes and became caught up in the convoy”.

"This raises legitimate questions as to the evidential basis for attributing liability in individual cases,” she said.

The Upper Bann MP concluded: “For the avoidance of doubt, I recognise and respect the rule of law, and the duty on the Police Service of Northern Ireland to uphold public order and road safety.

"Equally, there is a well-established right to peaceful assembly and expression, which must be facilitated and protected in a proportionate manner.”

Earlier in the week, a Ballygowan farmer called Sam Hanna had contrasted the swift penalties handed out to farmers with the absence of similar action to anyone involved in the Bobby Storey funeral in the midst of Covid lockdown.

Mr Allister has now told the News Letter: "The PSNI just surrendered west Belfast to the IRA on that day, made no semblance of an effort to keep any control, and they did what they liked and thumbed their nose at everyone – so of course it’s a relevant comparator.”

He added that, as far as he knew, there had been no penalties handed out to farmers involved in anti-inheritance tax go-slows in London in the past year.

"So why is it that our capital city can sustain farming protests, but the PSNI thinks they should be heavy-handed and swift-on-the-draw to issue penalty notices here?” he asked.

The PSNI has said: “The PSNI is required to police on behalf of all of members of the community.

“Police acknowledge rights of expression and assembly, but is important to recognise that they are not absolute rights.

"All motorists have to consider other road users and the PSNI is required to balance the rights of all members of the public.

"This is particularly acute where processions, or protests, may have an impact on critical road users such as blue light services or on significant transport hubs such as an airport.

"Where PSNI assesses in the context of an individual incident that having had regard to all competing rights, enforcement action may be required, a fixed penalty notice may be issued to a motorist.

"Any recipient of a notice has the option to contest the matter in a court.”