As part of two days of resistance outside the Royal Courts of Justice last week, the Defend Our Juries campaign organised an impressive act of mass civil disobedience in the face of repressive new laws on public nuisance.
The High Court was the venue for a sentencing appeal for 16 peaceful climate protesters in three separate case, including the Whole Truth Five, the Van Gogh soup throwers, and some of the Just Stop Oil M25 gantry protesters.
At lunchtime on the second day of the hearing, more than a thousand people took part in a ‘public exhibition of political prisoners’, sitting in the road outside the court, holding banners depicting political prisoners from all over the world and throughout history.
In this interview, Tim Crosland described how the protest was a reaction to new repressive laws and harsh sentencing, designed to deter climate and anti-war protests, and highlighting the corruption behind their introduction.
Alleged sex pest John Woodcock, known as Lord Walney, was made government adviser on ‘Political Violence and Disruption’, by Boris Johnson. He wrote a supposedly independent report recommending new laws and sentences, squarely aimed at climate groups and pro-Palestine activists. But it was revealed that he had strong connections with fossil-fuel and arms companies and was also the former Chair of Friends of Israel.
As soon as the sit-down protest began police moved in, waving maps of a ‘designated area’ they wanted the protesters to move to. Several police were warning of arrests unless people moved, although it was later confirmed that that would have required issuing a Section 14 notice, which was never actually in place.
For 90 minutes, Fleet Street was peaceful, filled with banners of political prisoners held quietly by members of the public, and then and at 1.45 everyone stood up, applauding and serenaded by members of the Climate Choir Movement who sang outside the court.
The lead judge in the appeal, Lady Justice Carr, has indicated a decision will be made fairly quickly in the coming weeks, and the hope is that she will listen to the chorus of concern that campaign groups, Amnesty International, Liberty, and a UN Special Rapporteur have all expressed over the recent treatment of peaceful protesters in the UK.
ICMYI – see also our coverage of Carla Denyer and Jenny Jones giving support and calling for the sacking of Lord Walney.