UK just stop oil climatic activists seek to reduce prison sentences due to “self -defense” protests

London – Sixteen environmental activists who were in prison for actions, including traffic stop, blocking an oil facility and splashing out of gogh pictures with soup They went to London on Wednesday to dispute their penalties. Protesters Just Stop oil say they have received unnecessarily sharp prison penalties – between 15 and five years – for disturbing but peaceful actions.

The group claims that closed protesters are “political prisoners” who “acted in self -defense and protected our families and communities.”

The environmental organizations of the Earth and Greenpeace UK protection are supported by five protesters’ appeals, who were in prison for planning demonstrations in November 2022. Protesters climb ganters above the traffic highway It surrounds London, breaking traffic for hours.

Other appellants were in prison for digging and occupying a tunnel below the road that led to a oil terminal in Southeast England and threw a soup on a trademark via Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at the London National Gallery.

A conservative government that lost power in July 2024. tricky laws against protests In response to eco-activists who blocked roads and bridges, glued to trains, sprayed artwork with color, sprayed buildings with false blood and orange powder athletes to attract attention to the attention Climate change. In June members of the group sprayed some massive stones from Stonehenge with orange.

The government said the laws prevented extremist activists from hurting the economy and interfering with everyday life.

Earth’s friends said the penalties were “a serious threat to our democracy.”

“To silence those who try for a better world will not make these escalating crises disappear – making it only to stifle our democracy,” said the higher lawyer of the Katie de Kuwe group.

The hearing of the appellant’s court is scheduled to last for two days, and three judges will probably submit their verdict a few days or weeks later.

Partner Network CBS News BBC News reported On Wednesday, activists gained support for the great -grandfather of one of the most famous British crusaders for equal rights, Suffagette Emmeline Pankhurst. Pankhurst was among the early leaders of the Movement for the polling stations that eventually won women’s right to vote in the UK in the early 20th century.

Her great -grandmother Helen Pankhurst, which is also a campaign for gender equality, compared the actions of climatic activists with those of the supragets a century ago.

“Environmental assets stand in the same tradition today,” Pankhurst said, according to the BBC. “I have no doubt that their future generations around the world will thank them for their campaigns.”