Climate protestors vindicated by sentences

A group of climate change protestors who stopped a train full of coal bound for Drax power station in Yorkshire, England have been handed light sentences.

Five of the 29 were given 60 hours of community service each. The rest were given a 12 month conditional discharge – in other words they will receive no further penalty unless they are convicted of involvement in future incidents.

Three of the 29 were ordered to pay £1000 each in fines and court costs. Three of the defendants will be sentenced on the 2nd October, but the outcomes are expected to be similar.

Drax power station is one of the largest emitters of climate-changing carbon dioxide and other polluting gases in Europe and is fuelled by coal, much of which is imported from as far away as Colombia. The protestors were denied the right to call defence witnesses in court, but were able to make powerful statements presenting the scientific and sociological basis for their actions and to raise the possible consequences of inaction on climate change, including massive social impacts as well as effects on the environment and animal species.

A spokesperson for the campaign called the result a “massive moral victory” for non-violent direct action against climate change.