By AFP - Agence France Presse
Climate activists defend 'future generations', appeal lawyer says
Clara LALANNE
Sixteen British climate activists jailed for their high-profile protests acted for “future generations” and should have their prison sentences reduced, lawyers argued on Wednesday.
Describing the sentences of 15 months to five years as “the highest of their kind in modern British history”, lawyer Danny Friedman told London's Appeal Court that the activists “did what they did out of sacrifice” and were acting in the “best interests of the public, the planet, and future generations”.
The hearing is being closely watched amid fears that peaceful protests risk being stifled in the UK.
In another case, in the southwest of England, two other protesters denied charges over an action at the prehistoric monument Stonehenge last year.
Climate campaign group Just Stop Oil claimed that the 16 protesters who appealed against their sentences were “political prisoners”.
“They're not there because they upset or harmed ordinary people... No, they are there because Just Stop Oil threatens the profits of the fossil fuel industry,” the group said.
- Soup, orange paint
Just Stop Oil (JSO) has launched high-profile protests since it was formed in 2022 to combat the use of fossil fuels, which scientists say are causing global warming and climate change.
The 16 activists, including some who threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh's painting “Sunflowers” in London's National Gallery, are trying to reduce or overturn sentences imposed for four separate protests.
Outside the court, dozens of supporters held up banners calling on the court to “Protect the right to protest” and “Free the political prisoners”. Others sat on the ground holding photos of those arrested.
The two activists accused of throwing orange powder paint over the Stonehenge megaliths pleaded not guilty when they appeared at Salisbury Crown Court.
They will stand trial in September on two charges of damaging a protected ancient monument and intentionally or recklessly causing a public nuisance.
At the London court, five other people are appealing against prison sentences imposed after they were convicted of conspiracy to cause public nuisance by planning to block a UK highway during an online call.
Environmental NGOs Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth have joined what they call “a critically important legal challenge over the right to protest”.
On Thursday, a coalition of climate and pro-Palestinian organizations plans to mobilize hundreds of people to block the road outside the court of appeal in support of the activists.
The climate protests have not stopped, despite the harsh prison sentences.
On Tuesday, police arrested two Just Stop Oil activists for disrupting a London staging of Shakespeare's “The Tempest” starring Hollywood actress Sigourney Weaver.
The two were charged with aggravated trespass on Tuesday and will appear in court next month, police said on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, an Extinction Rebellion group disrupted an insurance company conference in London.
The activists' actions were condemned by politicians and the police and provoked a negative reaction in some sectors of the public.
In July, five of the 16 activists who appealed were surprised after being sentenced to between four and five years in prison for planning to block the M25 freeway around London, an important transport link to the capital.
Among them is Roger Hallam, 58, one of the co-founders of JSO and Extinction Rebellion. His four co-accused were also arrested.
“The plain fact is that each of you, some time ago, crossed the line from concerned activist to fanatic,” said Judge Christopher Hehir, during the initial sentencing.
- 'Black day'
The country's previous conservative government adopted an increasingly hostile stance towards disruptive direct action and passed a series of laws toughening punishments for such offenses.
However, the length of prison sentences has shocked NGOs and environmental activists.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders, Michel Forst, called it “a dark day for peaceful environmental protest and indeed for anyone concerned about the exercise of their fundamental freedoms” in Britain.
CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations and activists, said civil liberties are being “obstructed” in the UK.
cla/har/jkb/rlp
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