The Green Party has responded to news tree campaigners in Sheffield have been given suspended sentences [1] for breaching protest injunctions [2].
Simon Crump and Benoit Compin were each given sentences of two months, suspended for one year.
Jonathan Bartley, co-leader of the Green Party, said:
“To see a local authority pursue action which could have resulted in jail terms for its residents for peacefully protesting the destruction of their local environment is beyond belief. This is the sharp end of a nationwide rollout of injunctions which seek to stamp out peaceful dissent wherever it is found. I stand in full solidarity with the brave greens campaigners putting their bodies on the line in the fight for Sheffield’s trees.”
Alison Teal, Green councillor in Sheffield, said:
“We will not be deterred by these bullying tactics. The residents of Sheffield have made clear they do not want their healthy street trees destroyed under an expensive, secretive and unaccountable Private Finance Initiative. To see the local authority attempt to throw them in jail is deeply worrying, but sadly not surprising. But the strength of the campaign to save Sheffield’s trees is growing by the day and we will not give in.”
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