Essay by Eric Worrall

“… they argued judges defied decades of precedent by ignoring their conscientious motives. …”

Climate activists ‘did what they did out of sacrifice’, appeal court told

Lawyers invoke philosophies of Hannah Arendt and Henry David Thoreau in bid to have long sentences of 16 protesters quashed

Damien Gayle
Thu 30 Jan 2025 05.02 AEDT

The philosophies of Hannah Arendt and Henry David Thoreau were aired in the court of appeal on Wednesday as 16 climate activists sought to convince England’s most-senior judge to quash their long sentences for disruptive acts of civil disobedience.

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The appellants, prosecuted in four separate trials last year, appeared at a mass appeal in London before a panel led by Lady Justice Carr, the Lady Chief Justice, where they argued judges defied decades of precedent by ignoring their conscientious motives.

They had received sentences ranging from 15 months to five years after taking part in various protests in 2022 as part of the Just Stop Oil climate campaign, which called for a moratorium on oil exploration in the North Sea.

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Among the 16 was Roger Hallam, the co-founder of Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, whose five-year sentence for planning roadblock protests on the M25 is thought to be longest ever handed out in the UK for non-violent protest; Larch Maxey, sentenced to three years for tunnelling beneath the road leading to an Essex oil refinery; and Phoebe Plummer, imprisoned for two years for throwing tomato soup on the glass covering Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting at the National Gallery.

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“They are the only known examples of punishment of peaceful protesters in which no reduction at all was made for such motivation,” said documents filed with the court by the applicants.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/jan/29/hannah-arendt-and-henry-david-thoreau-invoked-in-court-by-climate-protesters

In my opinion the protestors actions went well beyond any reasonable definition of acceptable protest. By forcibly inflicting their deranged extremism on others, the protestors caused outrage and distress, incited violence from people desperate to get home to their kids or to their jobs, and likely cost lives by blocking roads used by emergency services.

Let’s hope whatever decision the courts make in this case, that court decision discourages further disruption.