UK climate activists given record sentences for blocking road

Five climate activists from the United Kingdom were given unprecedented jail sentences for a four-day, non-violent protest over climate change that blocked roadways.

The Just Stop Oil protesters , a nonviolent civil resistance group in the U.K., were each sentenced to four to five years in jail for shutting down a motorway, the Financial Times reported . The protesters were found guilty of conspiracy charges in causing a public nuisance following a multiple-day demonstration in November 2022.

The sentences are the longest to be handed down for a non-violent protest in the U.K. and come after the former Conservative government had introduced legislation meant to rein in the protests, including a new public nuisance law.

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The five protesters had organized a Zoom call about recruiting volunteers before the protest. The demonstration resulted in about 45 protesters blocking the roads. Prosecutors detailed the economic toll of the protests over the course of four days, including 51,000 hours of driver delays and a policing bill of more than £1.1 million.

The convictions follow a separate climate activist's arrest for breaking a window at JPMorgan’s London office. The convictions also follow both the legislative and judicial branches' efforts to rein in protests while British prisons suffer from overcrowding.