Hundreds of protesters have reportedly blocked the road outside the high court in London, where the appeals of 16 jailed climate activists are being heard, in condemnation of “the corruption of democracy and the rule of law”.
As England’s most senior judge heard arguments in the appeal of the sentences of the Just Stop Oil activists, who are serving a combined 41 years in jail, their supporters sat on the road in silence holding placards proclaiming them “political prisoners”.
Tim Crosland, of the campaign group Defend Our Juries, who had organised the protest, said 1,000 had signed up to take part in the days leading up to Thursday, but a visual assessment suggested numbers were even higher.
“This is hundreds of people turning out to send a message to this court that silencing and jailing people trying to get good information to the public is not OK,” Crosland said. “That is the corruption of democracy and the rule of law. It’s not upholding a rule of law.
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“What those people have been jailed for is trying to get information to the public that the fossil fuel companies have been systematically concealing from the public for decades and decades. And good information is the lifeblood of democracy and that’s why those people have been jailed, for trying to get that to the public.”
Protesters held placards showing photographs of jailed activists, including those whose cases were being heard in court on Thursday, as well as photographs of famous political prisoners such as Angela Davis and Nelson Mandela who had, said Crosland, “fought for the freedoms that we enjoy”.
The broadcasters Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Chris Packham were among those who joined the protest. “We feel our basic democratic rights to protest peacefully are being eroded,” Fearnley-Whittingstall said.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
