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    Five Just Stop Oil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25
    United Kingdom

    Five Just Stop Oil activists receive record sentences for planning to block M25

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    34 Comments

    1. corbynista2029 on

      >Hallam received a five year sentence on Thursday, while the other four were each sentenced to four years.

      Our prisons are literally bursting at the seams, with 5,000 prisoners released early…and this is what we use our prison spaces for?? Surely there are more important criminals to lock up…

      >force the government to meet Just Stop Oil’s core demand: an end to new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea.

      Ed Miliband has committed to end new North Sea licenses, so guess their protests have worked.

    2. spackysteve on

      I think blocking the roads is stupid, but those sentences are crazy in comparison to what you get for violent crime.

    3. Equivalent_Pay_8931 on

      That’s more than some rapists btw, whether you agree with there cause or not this is pathetic.

    5. Longjumping_Stand889 on

      Those sentences seem very harsh to me. I think it’s going to put a lot of people off protesting.

    6. lastaccountgotlocked on

      Traffic blocks roads: this is fine.

      Protesters block roads: believe it or not, straight to jail.

    7. ash_ninetyone on

      Four years for that.

      Meanwhile, a conditional discharge for assaulting cops or stealing Rolex watches.

      Where’s the logic?

    8. Britisheagl on

      This seems WAY too harsh compared to other sentences for more violent crimes.

      Traffic isn’t ideal and can cause disruption as well as financial impact but jailing the protesters for 4/5 years (!) seems like the punishment does not fit the crime

    9. Agitated_Republic_16 on

      So much for our overcrowded prisons. Next time go straight to violent protest and assault some people, far less time in prison.

    11. Redscarepodder on

      Why on earth are the government/courts so insistent they get punished so harshly? 5 years is extremely disproportionate for what amounts to closing a road, especially in comparison to other people who get suspended 6 month sentences for much worse

    14. SuperrVillain85 on

      Worth noting that these people were charged with a conspiracy offence for organising the November 2022 protest.

      The people just blocking the M25 got lesser sentences , e.g. [3 x suspended sentences](https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/bristol-just-stop-oil-granny-8870399), [6 months](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/29/just-stop-oil-activist-sentenced-to-six-months-in-prison-for-motorway-disruption), [suspended sentence](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11649565/Just-Stop-Oil-protester-spared-jail-moaning-M25-stunt-ruined-life.html).

    15. JimJonesdrinkkoolaid on

      It’s interesting reading Hallam’s Wikipedia page. He’s clearly a guy that has been dedicated to these causes for a lot of his life. I do respect that. I don’t agree with all the tactics that him and just stop oil have used over time as I think they have been counter productive.

      For instance, I can’t remember if this was just stop oil or extinction rebellion but when they were blocking the roads and that included blocking ambulances. That kinda shit didn’t sit right with me.

      5 years though does seem pretty insane.

      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Hallam_(activist)

    16. Harmless_Drone on

      lmao there is genuine pedophiles and rapists who get less than this, Christ, even people running over kids with their car get less. This country is a joke.

    17. Happytallperson on

      This is becoming very dangerous for our country.

      The obsession with aggressive sentencing for peaceful protest has reached the point where you get less time for violent acts. The most serious arson offences that only cause property damage have a starting point of 4 years.

      Someone will start to look at this and ask ‘why bother being peaceful’. As climate breakdown becomes more apparent, the risk of a terrorist response to it increases. 

      If you make peaceful actions impossible, you’ll get terrorism. That will be extremely bad. I absolutely do not want it to happen.

      But it will if the government keeps down this path.

    18. yozeeto on

      I don’t get it. There are so many JSO members and obviously they, for some reason don’t need to work.

      Why don’t they spend time coming up and developing products that would replace need for oil, forcing oil companies out (and get rich at the same time), instead of wasting everyone’s time, money and heritage?

    19. rotunderthunder on

      Jailing the people who away billions of public money to their mates in COVID contracts when?

    21. CongratsMate on

      Serial offenders get off more lightly than that. Five years for one man and four years for the others involved. That is quite honestly an insane miscarriage of justice. Just Stop Oil do bad things, but not so bad they deserve several years in prison. The UK justice system is so broken. It needs a complete overhaul.

    22. OK_TimeForPlan_L on

      Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

    24. Night-Springs54 on

      is it possible that they are using this as a way to set an example? Send a message to other potential protestors planning to block roads?

    25. TheAkondOfSwat on

      Jeez I wonder who will end upon the right side of history here, so tough to call.

    26. MayIHaveAMushroom on

      I don’t give a fuck how disruptive they were. This is fucking draconian.

    27. yojifer680 on

      Hope that antisemite Roger Hallam enjoys his 5 years behind bars. Get rekt climate clowns.

    28. Aggressive_Plates on

      If they were serious they would be holding the donors responsible for the consequences:

      In canada bank accounts of donors were frozen because they donated to the Trucker Convoy.

    29. yojifer680 on

      To the people saying 5 years is too harsh, these people intentionally and unlawfully took 51,000 hours of life away from drivers through the delays they caused. That’s about 6 years and it doesn’t even include the passengers, the missed appointments, the loss of earnings, delays to emergency services, wasting police time, etc.

    30. drewbles82 on

      I would be surprised if their in for long…they wanna free up spaces, peaceful protestors should be the first to let out

    31. dick_piana on

      Those who are supporting this punishment, would you also support prison sentences for farmers who block roads and infrastructure in protest?

    32. _cookie_crumbles on

      Classic UK logic. Jail some annoying activists but rapist and criminals should go free.

    33. ManagedDecline on

      This seems incredibly polarising.

      I’m going to go on with the view that this is a joke of a country

    34. Zaphod424 on

      I don’t disagree with these sentences, they’re breaking the law and showing no remorse for it.

      But there clearly is a problem when these people are getting longer sentences than violent criminals. Prisons are full, clearly we need to build more, and we should be properly sentencing violent crimes before doing this. So while I don’t disagree with the sentences in a vacuum, it absolutely isn’t the best use of prison space given the situation we’re in. Once we have the space to properly sentence violent criminals, and have sorted that out, then we can come down hard on this kind of nuisance.