Abigail Percy-Ratcliff, a 25 year old student, took part in climate protest with Just Stop Oil in 2022. In July 2022, during a record-breaking heatwave which killed thousands in the UK, Abigail and four other activists climbed the gantries over the M25 with a banner that read 40 degrees C, Just Stop Oil. At the time the UK government was planning to issue over a hundred new licenses for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, with blatant disregard for their commitments made at the Paris Agreement in 2015. Those licenses have since been issued, and the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees over pre-industrial levels has been abandoned. Later that year Abigail was arrested for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance in connection with a Just Stop Oil protest in which 50+ activists climbed on gantries over the M25 over the course of 4 days. She was remanded to prison for three and a half months.
Abigail has recently been tried and found guilty of causing a public nuisance for her protest on July 2022. She has been handed a suspended prison sentence and £1,500 costs. She is a student and her sole income is her £13,000 student loan; she cannot work at the moment as she will be on trial for the conspiracy charge for six weeks from February 24th.
Funds raised will go to covering court-ordered costs and the cost of travelling to court. Please consider donating if you can afford to help, any amount is so appreciated.
"Democracy has failed to protect us. Both the labour and Tory parties are neglecting to take serious action on the climate. We have now passed 1.5 degrees warming over pre-industrial levels. There is absolutely no time for talking about whether it's okay to block a road. It's not okay to sell future generations' futures off for a profit, and that's exactly what these fossil fuel companies are doing. It's exactly what our government is allowing them to do. Peaceful protesters are filling our prisons while the real criminals sit in power handing down a death sentence to future generations.
This is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced, so we're kidding ourselves if we think action that does not inconvenience us will be nearly enough. Meaningful action on the climate crisis will necessarily be difficult. Difficult to reconcile, difficult to do, and difficult to watch. But if we don't make the difficult choice now - of this we can be absolutely sure - we will still be forced to make it later. And we will regret not having done what was necessary, when the fire is at our own doors."
- Abigail Percy-Ratcliff