Britain’s Communists have slammed the prison sentences imposed on “Just Stop Oil” protestors at Southern Crown Court on 18 July 2024.
Five defendants were gaoled for a total of 21 years under the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act for “conspiracy to cause a public nuisance”. They had disrupted M25 motorway traffic in a non-violent protest against Britain’s renewed oil and gas drilling programme, but were denied the right to explain their motivation to the jury.
CP Women’s Organiser Carol Stavris told the Party’s Political Committee that the protestors should be released and the Act scrapped.
She pointed out that in July 2021, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds had condemned the proposed Act because it “destroys the fine British tradition of protecting the right to protest”.
She also attacked the Bill for failing to prioritise measures to deal with rape, stalking and domestic violence.
At the CP Political Committee on Tuesday (22 July 2024), Ms Stavris urged today’s Labour government to legislate in the light of this week’s report on “Violence Against Women and Girls”, commissioned by the National Police Chiefs Council.
The report identifies such violence as a “national emergency” affecting at least one in 12 women each year, condemns the criminal justice system as “not fit for purpose” and calls for action to counter the extreme misogynistic views spread online by so-called “social influencers”.
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