Stuff reports:
The British co-founder of Extinction Rebellion has been given a record five-year prison sentence in the UK after a judge said he had “crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic”.
Roger Hallam was found guilty of conspiring to block traffic as part of a Just Stop Oil campaign on the M25 over four days of disruption in November 2022. …
Judge Christopher Hehir told the five eco-plotters: “I acknowledge that at least some of the concerns are shared by many, but the plain fact is that each of you has some time ago crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic.
“You have appointed yourselves as sole arbiters of what should be done about climate change.” …
“People missed flights, people missed funerals, students were delayed for their mock exam,” said the judge. “A child with special needs on his way to school missed part of the school day and [missed] his medication which placed the taxi driver at risk as he can become volatile without his medication.
“An individual suffering from aggressive cancer missed an appointment as a cancer patient and had to wait another two months for another appointment.”
The right to protest is not the right to take the law into your own hands and stop people going about their lives. As the judge noted, their actions caused real harm to people.
The post This will stop the traffic blockers first appeared on Kiwiblog.
