In responding to recent climate protests, the British state has seized the opportunity to make use of new laws created to crush non-violent actions. Between November 2023 and April 2024, 695 Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists were arrested whilst protesting, with 353 subsequently charged. Twenty-six JSO activists were imprisoned during July and August this year. Phoebe Plummer and Jane Touil were charged with suspicion of criminal damage following their spray painting of Terminal 5, Heathrow Airport; the remaining 24 were all arrested on charges which refer either to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (PCSCA) 2022 or to the Public Order Act 2023. On 27 September Phoebe Plummer was imprisoned for a further two years, along with Anna Holland who received 20 months for criminal damage to Van Gogh’s Sunflower painting in the National Gallery, despite the painting being behind protective glass.
On 18 July, five JSO activists were sentenced for planning to disrupt the M25 motorway in 2022. All five were charged with ‘conspiracy to cause a public nuisance’ under section 78 of the PCSCA, having attended a Zoom call meeting. Four of the allegedly conspiring protesters were sentenced to four years in prison with Roger Hallam, a co-founder of JSO, receiving five years. The ‘Whole Truth Five’, as JSO calls them, set the record for the longest sentences for peaceful protest incarceration in recent British history.
A week later, ten JSO activists appeared in court over their attempt to disrupt Heathrow. Of the ten, two were granted bail but the other eight were remanded in custody. They were arrested under section 7 of the Public Order Act 2023 which makes it an offence to interfere with key national infrastructure. Then on 1 August, six activists were sentenced to two years in prison. They had been arrested after they climbed gantries on the M25 in 2022 and were charged with ‘causing a public nuisance’ under the PCSCA. This is the same incident as the five imprisoned on 18 July. Typically, the conspiracy charges resulted in longer sentences than those given to the people who were actually involved in the alleged crime; the six gantry climbers made their association with JSO clear in court.
On 6 August, a further five JSO protesters were remanded following their arrest at Manchester Airport. Again, all members of the group were charged with ‘conspiracy to intentionally or recklessly cause a public nuisance’. The relevant sections of the two Acts have been quite intentionally designed to inflict serious consequences on anyone involved in JSO’s high profile actions, including both interfering with national infrastructure as well as using materials to ‘lock on’ in public spaces.
In November 2023, in a major crackdown on ‘slow marching’, around 100 JSO supporters were arrested for protests in Whitehall, and more than 30 were arrested under Section 7 on Hendon Way in West London as they called for an end to new North Sea oil exploration licences. On 12 November 2023, a single activist who slow marched for approximately 30 minutes was subsequently arrested on the same charge and a month later was sentenced to six months in gaol.
While the PCSCA and 2023 Public Order Acts are a legacy of the Johnson and Sunak governments respectively, Labour leader and now Prime Minister Keir Starmer has long been an advocate for them. In opposition, Starmer defended the Public Order Act, following anti-monarchy protests during the coronation of King Charles. Equally, when JSO climate activists were given the longest sentences in British history for peaceful protest, as Prime Minister, Starmer rejected calls from Labour MPs to intervene let alone repeal the Act.
Supporters of Palestine Action (PA) are suffering increasing repression by the British state: two activists who attacked a Thales weapons factory in Govan Glasgow in 2022 were convicted on 20 August for ‘breach of the peace’ and ‘malicious mischief’ and sent to prison for 14 months and 16 months. At the time of writing there are 14 more PA supporters in gaol for various offences connected to stopping arms production by Israeli weapons manufacturers or those companies supplying arms to the Zionist state, with many more facing the possibility of custodial sentences in the near future. Like the incarcerated JSO supporters, they are political prisoners, and we call for their immediate release and the dropping of all charges.
For details of how to support JSO prisoners go to: https://rebelsinprison.uk/rebels/
Reuben Birch
Defend Palestine Action prisoners!
There are currently 11 Palestine Action protesters behind bars in England and another five in Scotland. Four activists are being held on remand in HMP Wormwood Scrubs in west London. For the first four weeks of their imprisonment, two of the four were kept virtually incommunicado and did not receive any letters or emails from anyone outside. They were also held in cells without access to a functioning telephone. Palestine Action put out a successful call for people to bombard the prison with phone calls and emails demanding an end to this interference with the right to communication with the outside world. Further solidarity action in support of the imprisoned comrades is planned.
For information on upcoming Palestine Action trials and ways to support those sent to prison go to: https://palestineaction.org/trials/
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 302 October/November 2024
