Yesterday, the Lady Chief Justice, Lady Carr, delivered a judgment on protest law which may close a remarkable loophole which had been exploited by climate change protestors who engage in direct action to promote their cause.

Protestors who have damaged property with paint or smashed windows have been cleared in recent years after telling juries they ‘honestly believed’ that property owners would have consented to the damage if they had known about the impact of climate change.

Now, the Court of Appeal judgment should ensure that this defence is removed from many of those seeking to rely on their philosophical and political beliefs when engaging in destructive direct action.

The judgment resulted from an intervention by the Attorney General, Victoria Prentis. She referred points of law to the court under powers granted to her under the Criminal Justice Act 1972. Importantly, this does not affect previous not guilty verdicts, but enables the court to clarify the law in this area.

The facts of the case are straightforward. In July 2020, a climate change protestor (who cannot be named for legal reasons, but has been referred to by the court as ‘C’), along with a number of others, targeted the offices of a series of charities, political parties and trade unions. The protestors were part of a group called ‘Beyond Politics’, or ‘Burning Pink’, which grew out of Extinction Rebellion. The group seeks the replacement of the current political structure with a system of citizens’ assemblies.

These activists were alleged to have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage by throwing pink paint and, in one case, using a glass hammer to smash a window. The aim was to draw attention to the ‘climate change emergency’ and what they saw as ‘the culpable inaction’ of charities, politicians and NGOs.

QOSHE - Why climate protestors lost the right to cause criminal damage - Alexander Horne
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Why climate protestors lost the right to cause criminal damage

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19.03.2024

Yesterday, the Lady Chief Justice, Lady Carr, delivered a judgment on protest law which may close a remarkable loophole which had been exploited by climate change protestors who engage in direct action to promote their cause.

Protestors who have damaged property with paint or smashed windows have been cleared in recent years after telling juries they ‘honestly believed’ that property owners would have consented to the damage if they........

© The Spectator


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