Responding to the news that twenty protesters who attempted to shut down E.ON’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in April 2009 have been found guilty of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass today (1), Green Party leader Caroline Lucas said:
“I am very disappointed at the guilty verdict for the protesters involved in plans to shut down the UK’s second largest power station. This kind of peaceful direct action is part of a global grassroots movement to bring about urgent political change where governments are failing to act – and where that inaction is literally costing people’s lives now.
“These individuals believe that they have a responsibility to protect our planet and future generations from the worst effects of climate change, and mounted a strong case for targeting one of the UK’s largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed, there is a legal precedent for making such a case: in the successful trial of the ‘Kingsnorth Six’. It’s not really clear how this case differed.”
She concluded:
“Protests against new coal-fired power stations will continue until the Government, and energy companies like E.ON, take steps to move beyond our dependence on dirty coal - which currently provides 33% of our energy – and show that they are genuinely interested in changing their priorities to reflect the environmental reality.”
Notes:
(1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-11992969