After removing a tweet that questioned whether demonstrations should be outlawed, Loose Women has come under criticism.
The panel, which included Kaye Adams, Denise Welch, Janet Street-Porter, and Brenda Edwards on Tuesday’s programme, talked about the effectiveness of disruptive demonstrations.
They mentioned how a Just Stop Oil protester had covered a table with orange chalk to interrupt the World Snooker Championship and how animal rights protesters had been detained during the Grand National over the weekend.
However, following the episode, the show’s official Twitter account tweeted a poll asking viewers whether or not “protesting should be banned.”
96% of the almost 15,000 responders voted no, which was a substantial reaction, but it was erased a few hours later.
People quickly caught on and called out the show, with one person writing: ‘Where has your poll gone? Not the result you wanted?’
‘Protests should not be banned lol,’ another added.
Under the European Convention of Human Rights, protesting is protected as a human right.
While Janet questioned what the “dumb protest” at the snooker tournament had accomplished during their on-air chat, Jane added that she wasn’t sure whether these demonstrations were having the desired “effect.”
When asked about her experience protesting as a student, Janet stated that she was all for peaceful rallies but opposed those who caused public disturbance.
‘What I saw at the Grand National didn’t help the animals at all,’ she said.
Brenda said she had never participated in a demonstration and that she was all for people standing up for what they believed in, but that such activity should remain nonviolent.
‘My problem is why choose a snooker game for an oil protest….it’s now brought attention for the wrong reasons,’ she added.
Their views were echoed by Denise, who said she was a ‘great believer’ in protests if they were ‘peaceful and organised’.
‘We need to have boundaries for these protests,’ she said.
Janet stated she was happy to have been a part of a generation that invented and supported the peaceful sit-in, despite Jane mentioning how the suffragettes utilised tactics that weren’t considered peaceful and that if people were “passionate” about a subject, they would turn to headline-grabbing behaviours.
She continued by saying that the present protesters were affecting daily life and “attacking the people they shouldn’t be attacking.”
Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV.