Just Stop Oil activists appeal harsh sentences in landmark case

Sixteen jailed Just Stop Oil activists will appear in court this week in an appeal against their sentences, which were believed to be the harshest ever for peaceful protest in Britain. For damaging picture frames, obstructing the road, or just talking about obstructing the road, they have received punishments that we would normally reserve for serious crimes. People trying to draw attention to the government's failure to confront the cause of the climate crisis were imprisoned for up to five years.

These sentences have been condemned as draconian by Amnesty International, as "a grave erosion of ... freedoms" by Liberty, as "a profound injustice" by Global Witness, and as "not acceptable in a democracy" by a special rapporteur for the UN. They represent the terrifying decline of our nation, from a beacon of tolerance with a clear division between politics and policing, towards an oppressive state where that dividing line is becoming harder to discern.

Regardless of your politics and what you are standing for, the right of peaceful protest is a vital sign of a healthy democracy and an essential guardrail against authoritarian politicians and reckless companies.

I have campaigned inside and outside parliament, and in 2013 I was arrested for taking part in a peaceful protest at a proposed fracking site in West Sussex. Police forcefully removed me and my fellow protesters, and I was charged with a public order offence, of which I was later cleared.

I took action on that day because I felt I had exhausted all democratic options - and as MP for Brighton Pavilion, I had more options than most. Residents living around the proposed fracking sites felt their concerns had been ignored, and polls consistently show that the practice is deeply unpopular with the wider population. Many people protested, and in 2019, the government finally saw sense and imposed a fracking ban that remains in force in England today. This was a clear example of concerned citizens standing up to the vested interests of companies and the misguided actions of the government to bring about change.

Protest is part of how democracy works, and it has led to many of the freedoms we enjoy today including a two-day weekend, national parks, and votes for women.

The appeal this week is proof that it is becoming much harder for citizens to make their voices heard - whether it's about the cost of living, the climate crisis, or the state of our polluted rivers. Recent governments have expanded the legal definition of public nuisance to include anything that causes "more than minor" disruption, including making noise. Police have new powers to preemptively stop and search or arrest protesters. In just one month at the end of 2023, police arrested at least 630 peaceful protesters. Research shows that British police arrest environmental protesters at a rate of nearly three times the global average.

For many, arrest is just the start of their ordeal: sentences for causing a public nuisance can range up to 10 years in prison. One protester appealing this week has been jailed for five years for taking part in a Zoom call about a planned climate protest. Forty people spent Christmas Day behind bars for voicing their dissent to war and the climate crisis.

The scope of the appeal is limited to challenging the sentences. A decision to reduce these over-harsh punishments would set an important precedent for future cases. However, the underlying problem of the excessive powers granted to police and the courts to arrest and prosecute peaceful protesters, which increased dramatically under the last government, is being happily accommodated by this one, along with tabloid rhetoric to demonise the protesters in civil society.

Keir Starmer and his government must know, deep down, that this is wrong. In a past life, the prime minister himself represented climate activists like those in court this week. The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has previously said she fears that certain measures in the Public Order Act could "erode historic freedoms of peaceful protest". And yet this government seems perfectly content to continue sleepwalking into many of the practices used by authoritarian states.