Cambridge climate campaigners walk to Royal Courts of Justice for duo’s jail appeal
Cambridge Defend our Juries and XR walkers walked to the Royal Courts of Justice to support the appeal of 16 imprisoned climate activists, including Lou Lancaster from Grantchester, and recent Cambridge University music graduate Cressida Gethin.
Around 33 campaigners walked overnight from Staines railway station to the Royal Courts of Justice in support of the appeal: both were sentenced to four years in prison for for “conspiracy to cause public nuisance” contrary to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
Andrew Dames, from Coleridge, joined 33 campaigners walking overnight from Staines railway station to the Royal Courts of Justice. The delegation set off at 9:30pm on Tuesday evening (28 January), stopping and singing outside Bronzefield prison, in a service led by an Anglican vicar and fellow walker.
“Sixteen candles and named pebbles were put out, and then carried by us the rest of the way,” said a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries. “Then [we went] on to the Hounslow Sikh Gurdwara, where volunteers kindly came out to give us drink and shelter at 2am, and then on to the Quaker Meeting House in Hammersmith for 6am tea and flapjack from the warden Laura.”
They joined a rally at Parliament Square at 8:30am (29 January), where Carla Denyer MP and Baroness Jenny Jones gave speeches in support of the appeal.
“The Cambridge walkers finally arrived at the Royal Courts of Justice at 10am to see several hundred people around the court from Defend our Juries, XR and Just Stop Oil.”
In court, the appellants' lawyer, Danny Friedman KC, said: "What these applicants did by way of collective, non-violent protest, whether one likes it or not, was for the interests of the public, of the planet, and of future generations."
"They did what they did out of sacrifice," he added.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) opposes the appeals, saying the sentences were not "wrong in law".
More than 1,000 people took part in a peaceful demonstration blocking the road outside the Royal Courts of Justice on the day the appeal opened.
“Just Stop Oil supporters in prison are political prisoners,” said a campaigns spokesperson. “They are not there because they disrupted or harmed everyday people – if that were the case, the water company bosses, Post Office execs and those responsible for the Grenfell disaster would be behind bars. Our supporters are in prison because Just Stop Oil threatens the profits of the fossil fuel industry.”
