Over 100 Extinction Rebellion (XR) rebels participated in this non-violent direct action. It succeeded in attracting vast media coverage on a local and national scale, that sparked countless conversations about the environment and the action that needs to be taken.
We are XR volunteers who belong to various local groups (Bristol, Southampton, Cheltenham, Taunton, Stroud). There are 16 of us, from teenage students to grandmothers. We would greatly appreciate anything you can offer to support us with the weight of costs resulting from our arrests.
We were arrested on 17th July 2019 for locking-on and super-gluing ourselves to a pink bathtub in the middle of a Bristol road junction (never thought that's a sentence we'd ever say). It's a junction which is known to be exceeding pollution and emissions safety levels. We carried out this action to draw attention to climate and ecological breakdown and the emergency we are living through.
We understood what the consequences of our actions could be. We were detained for 24 hours and prosecuted in a Magistrates court for wilful obstruction of a highway. The large majority of the group pleaded not guilty under the necessity to act to prevent further harm. This gave us the opportunity to speak in court about why it was necessary to do what we did.
For our trials, we were split into three groups with different magistrates, one of whom said it was with regret that he found us guilty. It was clearly a tough decision for him. In the end, the reason for the guilty verdicts was there wasn't deemed to be a close enough link between our actions and the harm we must prevent.
We received conditional discharges (instead of fines) and were ordered to pay court costs ranging from £180 - £250 each.
Throughout it all, there was a sense that the system is not set up to deal with these cases and that magistrates do not have enough case law to guide them in returning not guilty verdicts yet.
We’d like to thank the police for their good nature and dealing with the situation with kindness and respect.
Why Do We Act?
Rebels fight to protect their friends, their families, the larger natural world, and humankind. They know that action NOW is needed to address climate and ecological collapse. We have experienced the pointlessness of sending letters, signing petitions, and contacting elected representatives. Governments around the world, including the British Government, have known the consequences of rising CO2 emissions for over thirty years and still refuse to act. We engaged in non-violent direct action because it is the only recourse left to us in the face of such criminal inaction by those in power.
Any additional funds raised will be donated to London Autumn Rebellion arrestees.
If you are reading this and are concerned about a recent arrest of your own and would like to talk to someone who has been through it, you can get in touch at [email protected]. We’d be happy to share our experiences with you.
Thank you for your support.
In love and grief xx