Separately on Thursday, three airports were granted high court injunctions against fossil fuel and environmental activists protesting at their sites. Leeds Bradford airport, London Luton airport and Newcastle international airport were given injunctions banning protesters from trespassing or causing a nuisance.
I thought the title was going to be a little click-baity, but it wasn't. 5-year and 4-year for planning to disrupt traffic is horrible. As the article points out, the dissonance between this sentencing and the actual harm caused by large-scale polluters is insane.
This is fucking spot on and honestly I'm disgusted thinking about it.
So endangering the public, disrupting traffic, and potentially killing someone because you crashed your car while shitfaced is better than planning a protest I guess.
Oh yeah I forgot...of course the crime of offending and defying the ultra wealthy oil barons is worse than potentially killing a not rich person. They own basically everything at this point.
If you punish peaceful activism this hard you make violent activism more appealing. If you’re going to prison for years either way you might as well really fuck shit up
Especially after the events that transpired last week. Politicians need to show the people that opposing them nonviolently IS viable. It's in their own best interest.
Otherwise it's "fuck the rules, let them try", and based on history they WILL try.
The sentences are excessive and unjustifiable, but it wasn't just one zoom call that was taken into account - three of them including Hallam were already on suspended sentences and all of them were on bail at the time of the "offence." I do not think that any of them should be imprisoned but the full details are not being given in the reporting.