M1 Conspiracy Case Thrown Out

Seven climate camp activists against the widening of the M1(1*) had the
case against them dismissed from Sheffield Crown Court yesterday. Charged
with conspiracy to cause a public nuisance Judge Robinson said that:
"there was not a jot of evidence" for a jury to infer an endangerment
of any member of the public.

Seven climate camp activists against the widening of the M1(1*) had the
case against them dismissed from Sheffield Crown Court today. Charged
with conspiracy to cause a public nuisance Judge Robinson said that:
"there was not a jot of evidence" for a jury to infer an endangerment
of any member of the public.

Arrested over a year ago the protesters had their houses raided with
property such as computers and phones taken and held for the duration
of the investigation.

This ruling in the midst of a crack down (2*) on green protest sets a
precedent for policing of environmental demonstrations. The Judge
resoundingly rejected the prosecution's argument that the hanging of
banners over the motorway would constitute a public nuisance.

He went on to say: "that all of the available material (presented to
the court) is consistent only with peaceful protest."

Campaign spokesperson Dr Julie White, a GP from Sheffield, said: "this
is victory for the right to protest in the face of government policy
of expanding roads, runways and coal-fired power stations in a time of
climate crisis."

The activists say that the experience has not deterred them from
taking action against the root causes of climate change and will be
attending the Camp for Climate Action(3*) at Kingsnorth coal-fired power
station in Kent this August.

Contact Julie White on 0779851073.

NOTES FOR EDITORS
1*) The Department of Transport have decided against widening the M1 any further:

http://www.nowideningm1.org.uk/

2*) this month the Sunday Herald reported that protestors in Scotland
had been harassed by police after peaceful demonstrations:

http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2210574.0.protesters_police_treated_us_like_terrorists.php

3*)The Camp for Climate Action went to Heathrow last summer over the building of a third runway this year it will pitch up at Kingsnorth over the potential building of the UK's first new coal-fired power station for 30 years:

http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/

Julie White

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

Nice one!

01.05.2008 15:14

Result!

It would be cool if one or more of the people involved with this were able to write up the whole story now the legal stuff is done with... I think there are lessons for other activists in this...

Chris

:)

01.05.2008 15:52

awesome! well done everyone involved.

xx

There Justice..

01.05.2008 16:29

Of course the middle class was going to walk from this, now i aint saying the action of the police was right of course not. the justice system is imposed by the middle class, and it will be seen that there treated right by there friends, note one of the people is a DR, how often have we the working class suffered due to them? i disagree with the M1, not based on the lie of climate change, but due to plight it puts on the community at J36. The people have to suffer all to often, the local school has to time the kids into the playground. the simple solution to the plight of the working class, and the plight of our earth is to make the middle class history. one will anticipate this comment be moved or hidden but i hope enough people have read before it is..

make the middle class history
mail e-mail: worldwarfree@riseup.net
Homepage: http://pretentiousartist.com

The middle classes!!!

01.05.2008 17:21

I AGREE!!

ARA

What kind of title can I put to this?

02.05.2008 16:17

Er... I actually happen to know a couple of the people on this action and I'm pretty sure they're working class...

Likewise, I know a bunch of other activists who got charged recently for something else who were a mixture of working and middle class.

So, my opinion is, you are talking rubbish.

Where I'm from, we all mix together from different backgrounds and it doesn't cause any problems. We all support a classless society and don't denigrate class as an issue, but really: denouncing this result as being about the middle class looking after their own?! What are you on?

Your comment just makes a mockery of real class issues. And discrimination runs both ways, it seems. I suppose I'm middle class but don't think for a minute that stops me from fighting for justice in all spheres for all classes.

I do believe that the protestors against the M1 care about all of the reasons why the M1 is a bad idea, not just the environmental consequences. So have you led an action on your concerns about the M1- or are you just another armchair critic?

re: middle class

02.05.2008 18:36

i completely disagree with your comments, how can you say the middle class will walk free i was there and I'm from a working class background, along with other protesters that were there. My mum being a single parent worked hard to support us and put food on our plate, i feel passionate about the climate and choose to stand by what i believe. no matter what background we are all from we believe that climate change is a real and we all need to take action to change it.

response to make the middle class history

02.05.2008 19:43

Whilst I would be inclined to agree with you if you were to say that other issues such as, war famine etc. are neglected in favour of climate change activism, I bet I am more working class than you.

Solidarity, not stupidity!

03.05.2008 15:54

By all means slag off the middle class when they are doing typically middle-class things such as trying to climb the career ladder, sending their kids to private schools, going on foreign holidays, buying luxury cars and keeping the riff-raff out of their leafy suburbs.

But for fuck's sake, using any opportunity to have a pop at "the middle class" is a pretty low blow.

Especially when the people you're having a go at have actually been arrested for activism, taken to court for political reasons and then found innocent. And especially when the majority of them aren't even fucking middle class in the first place! (I know some of them!)

Does that make sense on any level?

I'm originally from a relatively middle class family, but what does it matter? Can we change our backgrounds? About as much as we can change the colour of our skin! Being classist about people's original backgrounds which they had no control over (as opposed to how they live their lives today) is about as stupid, unproductive and wrong as being racist. In fact, it's basically the same thing.

I can change myself and how I live today and reject all middle class values and aspirations (perhaps in small part making part of the middle class history, by refusing to partake in it myself), but I can't change my parents. Though for what it's worth, they are becoming progressively more anti middle-class-values on a daily basis, thanks in part to my efforts... not that I'd expect you to care.

Solidarity my arse... there's just no pleasing some people. I live in a working class area, earn a low wage and spend a lot of time on activism and community building. Yes, I was born to middle class parents, but the way I live my life today isn't even close to it.

I've risked arrest myself on M1 and other actions. What the fuck have YOU done about it, other than sit behind your keyboard and insult strangers? Could the chip on your shoulder be any bigger?

Solidarity, not stupidity!

Congratulations to the people who were found to be innocent, and I'm just really sorry you all had to go through so much stupid shit and blatant politically-motivated intimidation from the law (unto themselves) to have the screaming obvious recognised.

Yet now some classist twat is throwing baseless insults at you. Well that's just great, isn't it!

Chips on Shoulders

don't listen to worldwarfree

14.05.2008 17:43

Just in case people don't know him, worldwarfree is a well known arsehole in sheffield it is best not to reply to him.

someone from sheffield