The UK government are set on eroding any right to protest that is left. Please do anything you can. I don’t care what banner you do it under, just please do something.
Michel Forst, the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders, has scalded the government for their draconian crackdown on any people trying to sound the alarm but as we’ve seen recently, there is no justice system and countries cannot and will not hold each-other to account. You can read his report here.
That’s obscene. I think there must be some sort of legal recourse, no? That seems intentionally designed to curtail your ability to protest through onerousness.
Yeah it’s super super repressive. I was held in custody (think solitary confinement) for 54 hours for a 10 minute march around parliament square another time. I’m also currently banned from London so can’t join the protests for Palestine happening there. I have friends who were put on GPS tags and not allowed to leave their home for similar marches. One other friend had their GPS tag set up wrong so police turned up and told her she was breaking her bail conditions by going in her bathroom because that’s outside the zone the police set for her 🙃
There’s no legal recourse, who am I going to complain to, the police? Lots of what they’re doing is illegal under their own laws and, more often, international law. But laws are nothing if they aren’t enforced.
If it’s illegal, lawyer up and sue. If it’s not illegal, contact your local newspaper to try to get the story out there so voters can decide it o7ght to be illegal.
I’m sorry this is happening to you, keep visible about all this. At some point the coppers will do this very treatment to the wrong one, and I hope there is a less-violent uprising.
Throughout history, the kings and their legal cronies have needled and passive aggressively irritated people (sometimes to suicide) all who disagreed with the current narrative. We can collectively cook up strategies against them, as there are more of us than them.
You have my respect and best wishes through all this. Keep your network alive, protect the people you know from new people you meet, and keep up the good fight!
The UK tortured Julian Assange before deporting him to the US. Despite the UN special rapporteur warning about it, no other country cared to hold the UK accountable.
Repression against those protesting and protecting the planet is on the rise literally everywhere. Protect yourself and your friends. Stay safe and support those that the state targets.
Also kinda connected, but maybe not what led to OPs legal issues: Many climate protest groups around the world use strategies that focus filming themselves while doing criminal acts and/or getting arrested and identified by the police. I believe its not useful to make it easy for the state to target protestors and organizers.
How do I get people to notice me?
Sounds to me like someone needs to ship out a few dozen train cars of Guy Fawkes masks.
UK stinks right now, Tories are looking at they’re own bottom line and dragging us with them.
I hope everything works out for you and sorry your being put through this but keep up the good fight
blow shit up seems like your last course of action
I feel like we’re potentially only being given half the story and without seeing the papers, it is possible we’re being misled here.
I feel like people don’t get 153 pages of legal charges if they’re just standing there with a sign…
Why not post the papers too? (Redacted of course). Or at least mention what the actual charges are.
By the way, don’t take asking for evidence to mean I agree with the UK government (I am very much a Greenie). I just want more information
Not sure what the value in taking photos of all of the pages for random people on the internet to look at. You can disbelieve me if you want, I don’t mind, but please look at what the UN have to say about it (Linked in the post). I imagine you might trust them more than me.
Edit to respond to your edit: We were marching in a road. I was arrested under Section 12 of the Public Order Act (1986), then it was dropped, then like 6 months later I got posted a charge for Wilful Obstruction of the Highway. This is the most paperwork I’ve had for a case, more than the criminal damage case I had (apparently water based paint that they wiped off while we sat there still counts as criminal damage and nullifies your right to protest).
Oh and people have been sent to prison for standing with a sign. Oil companies have taken out “civil injunctions” (read: custom laws) to make it illegal to protest near their oil terminals: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/16/more-than-50-just-stop-oil-protesters-in-uk-sent-to-jail-on-one-day This is also referenced in the UN report.
You’re right. I don’t believe you, and believe you less now lol. The UN might not have anything to do with your case.
The fact you’re trying to downplay vandalism using paint suggests there are elements of this you’re downplaying too. There’s a pattern emerging…
5 mins ago, you were just standing there with a sign. Now it’s 30 mins of blocking the freeway lol.
Next thing we know, you’ll be admitting that blocking emergency vehicles was on the list too. It wouldn’t be 150 pages of car licence plates. I suspect there are lots of other details which help justify the charges and that’s why you’re not posting the actual charges lol. So what do the other pages say?
Deceiving people only works in an echo chamber. We need people to be upfront, because the people we need to convince are going to be making the same comments as I am doing now.
Some reading comprehension could work wonders. They said that there was less paperwork for the action with the paint than the protest march. And why do you have to suck off the British government, which by the way is well known for repression of protests?
Where did I write that I support the UK government?
I already proved op was trying to deceive us a bit. And what didn’t I read properly? I never said anywhere there was MORE paperwork for the vandalism (and that should be a red-flag to you, that you’re ignoring, that suggests OP is lying about the details)
Do you seriously think op got served a massive 150 pages (more than a vandalism charge, and more than the trump indictment) because they simply blocked a freeway? Op is still holding back major details and you’re embracing their bullshit. That’s not helpful for the pro-environment cause.
If you think they’re right, ask to see more information as it will prove the UK government is strong arming them. That’s all we need. Not plausibly unrelated news report. By fighting with me for asking for basic PROOF, you’re setting us up in a position to make us ALL look like idiots, and giving ammunition to the other side, when it’s discovered what really happened.
I’m simply asking for the full information. Not sure why you’re attacking me for asking (this shouldn’t be a trump-like echo chamber). I’ll reiterate that I don’t believe op. I suspect the full extent of these criminal charges are far beyond holding a sign.
I’ve withheld information in that I haven’t provided you with details of an ongoing legal case? Idk the legal ramifications of that and I never said I was just holding a sign, it says “protest march” in the title. I’m not going to spend my free time photographing my legal documents to prove that I’m not lying because what would the point be? Even if I were lying, I have linked proof of all the awful repressive shit happening, it’s not really about me. Also “The UN might not have anything to do with your case” but the linked report specifically references people getting extreme punishments for the same crime of a march. I’m not trying to “deceive” you, I’m just not wasting my time arguing with strangers on the internet about if I’m lying or not. Government suck, get your priorities in order xoxo
You don’t sound like you live in the UK. If that’s the case, I would recommend you go learn about the 2022 Police and Sentencing Act, which is a ridiculously Draconian piece of legislation that clamps down on people’s right to protest. Many human rights bodies have raised concerns about it, precisely because of the kind of disproportionate response to cases like OP’s.
I think at this point you might have been treated as hostile for the perceived tone in which you started your questioning. Though healthy skepticism is a good thing, you might have gone about it in a different way and got better results.
As an outside observer I would say that your hostility was met with hostility. You often get what you give, which is a good reason to be critical of your own writing. You can do better next time, please try.
There’s always someone victim blaming like you isn’t there.
Asking for evidence isn’t what victim blaming is.
Trumps indictment was only 45 pages. Op’s was 150 pages. If they were only holding a sign, it should be far less. Op also is weaseling their way out of providing info on what is on those pages, other than the main charge. OP is CLEARLY withholding information they can easily provide, which provides the info we need to make a more informed decision. It’s suss they haven’t
OP also admitted they’re already known to police for vandalism involving paint (and then stupidly tried to suggest it wasn’t vandalism, since they managed to clean it up lol). And that should be a redflag…
We’re not being given the full story. I knew my opinion wouldn’t be popular. But I actually do care about the environment, and it makes us all look stupid if OP turns out to be downplaying everything.
Fun fact: an act of vandalism could also be an act of protest at the same time 🤯
Nice of them to provide for those in need of tinder for their fireplace.
At a social event around christmas we did a quiz and the “scrap paper” we were using was an injunction someone had been served lol
