Hundreds of activists from various climate advocacy groups staged a sit-down demonstration on 30 January to protest the severity of the sentences given to 16 climate activists.
High-profile appeals in recent days have challenged the sentences given to climate activists in multiple trials last year. The appeals highlight the controversial judicial decision to limit evidence linking the climate crisis to the activists’ actions.
The defence argues that this limitation amounts to a miscarriage of justice. Amnesty International condemned these sentences as “draconian”.
The groups in attendance included Just Stop Oil (JSO), Defend Our Juries and Extinction Rebellion (XR).
Roar spoke to Paul Sousek, one of five JSO activists appealing their sentences for participating in protests which brought the M25 to a standstill in July 2024. He explained, “What we are trying to do is make sure that in the future, judges will be compelled to allow motives to be explained to juries.”
Sousek argued, “Therefore the jurors simply saw disruption, but no reason for the disruption.”
He added, “I would consider these 16 people as political prisoners.”
Danny Friedman KC, one of the barristers representing the activists, told reporters on 29 January, “What these applicants did by way of collective, non-violent protest, whether one likes it or not, was for the interests of the public, of the planet, and of future generations.”
He added, “They did what they did out of sacrifice.”
On 29 January, the Crown Prosecution Service defended the sentences claiming they were “neither wrong in law nor manifestly excessive”, and that, “deterrence is required in order to protect the public”.
The sentences in question included: Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Just Stop Oil, receiving five years for his involvement in the M25 disruption last year. The protest, which involved 45 people and lasted for 120 hours, came at an estimated economic cost of at least £765,000 according to The Evening Standard.
During Hallam’s sentencing in July 2024, Judge Christopher Hehir stated, “The plain fact is that each of you crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic long ago.
“You have taken it upon yourselves to dictate the response to climate change, disregarding both democratic principles and the rule of law.”
Other sentences included two years and 20 months respectively for Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland for throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Flowers’ painting.
Last July, The Guardian reported that these were “thought to be the longest sentences ever given in the UK for non-violent protest”.
Sousek, explaining his early release with an electronic tag, emphasised, “Most of the 16 people are still in prison, some of them for four or five years.”
A spokesman for Defend Our Juries contrasted the sentences given to the 16 non-violent climate activists with participants of the 2024 UK riots, of whom several were convicted of assaulting police officers.
He said: “[These climate protesters] were given sentences ranging from two years up to five years, but some of the people who assaulted police officers in those riots only got two years.”
“We’re not saying that these people didn’t do what they did and but what we are saying, is that the sentencing needs to be consistent.
“For non-violent protests, the law actually states that the level of violence of the offence committed ought to be taken into account both during the trial and the sentencing.”
Spokesman for Defend Our Juries
The spokesman for Defend Our Juries echoed Sousek’s remarks, arguing that the climate activists were “political prisoners”.
“During trial and sentencing [of climate activists], it is becoming increasingly common for judges to restrict what defendants can say about environmental issues,” he said, suggesting this was unlawful, “because context is everything in a trial.”
Despite heavy police presence, with over a dozen police vans stationed around Stand Campus throughout the afternoon, the demonstration remained entirely peaceful.
Roar observed police arresting an individual and escorting them to a police van at approximately 15:45, more than an hour after the main demonstration had dispersed. The reason for their arrest remains unconfirmed, but onlookers suggested their participation in the protest had breached bail conditions.
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