‘Not acceptable in a democracy’: UN expert condemns lengthy Just Stop Oil sentences
Michel Forst, UN special rapporteur, joins growing chorus of voices criticising jail terms handed to five defendants
People in here are arguing about whether the government should be able to allow or disallow protests, i.e. "legal" or "illegal" protests.
I think Denmark has a good middle ground solution to this: Protests must be declared to the police ahead of time, so they know it is happening. Note that this is not an application or an ask for permission! You always have permission, you only have to make the police aware that you are protesting, so they can monitor it and ensure it follows law and order and doesn't turn violent.
France works that way as well.
You always have permission*
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Protestation IS democracy you fucking fascists.
Legal protests are. Illegal protestation is anarchy.
There is no such thing as an illegal protest. That is a concept made up by the people being protested against so that they can squash it. Protests are not supposed to be "convenient". They are not supposed to be comfortable or nice or pretty. They are supposed to force people to face the issue and band together to bring about real change.
Guys, I'm planning to cause a traffic jam, and you all are invited.
Oh wait, that's just normal traffic. Oh well, see y'all in jail.
It is not acceptable anywhere. This "in a democracy" bit is just taking away blaim from dictator who do this kind of stuff all the time.
No, the point of the sentence isn't to take away blame. It is to compare them to dictatorships. I.E. Add more blame
I still don't understand why JSO is bothering common folk with their protests, go block politicians - you know, the people who YOU want to make the treatise to stop the use of oil!
I agree with what they want (though it would've been nice if they had a plan how to slow down our oil use, but then again they're no experts on that), but I do think they're being dumb on how to achieve it. You don't see Union Strikers block off a highway to get what they want, they'll instead block off some plant where they work - now that makes sense! Go bother politicians.
The problem with "they should have a plan" is that we have viable plans and nobody that's currently benefiting from oil will take any steps towards implementing them.
Just Stop Oil are the people that were blocking traffic of normal everyday citizens.
Their sentences weren't lengthy enough in my opinion.
Peaceful protest should not be a cause for government punishment at all, this sentence is absolutely insane and should be revoked at the earliest convenience.
The new government should restore our right to protest policies without fear of imprisonment.
There is nothing peaceful about blocking traffic.
It is first off illegal to protest on a busy road unless you've acquired a permit and have a way to redirect traffic. What they were doing were illegal protests.
Second, it doesn't matter what your message is. If you block traffic, you are the biggest cunt there is, and you are actively harming your own cause by showing the world what kind of people you are. If you've seen the videos, and read the comments, you know that 99% of the people are cheering when angry drivers pull the protesters by their hair out of the streets.
