To think the judge was right to throw the book at Just Stop Oil?

[StripedPiggy]

Five Just Stop Oil activists, including leader & XR founder Roger Hallam have been sentenced to up to 5 years in jail for blocking the M25 & other main roads.
Their intention was to cause gridlock on roads in the South East. The disruption they caused resulted in people missing medical appointments, flights & business meetings.

Well done to that judge. The criminal justice system is right to pass serious sentences on these fanatics which will act as a strong deterrent to others who might try to cause mass disruption, and put people’s lives in danger, to further a political agenda, whatever it might be.

Some people think that because the cause is sound the method of protest is justified. How would you feel if a different protest group had done this? Farmers or lorry drivers?

Well said! 👏👏

I'm another in agreement with @Gingerisgoodforyou A jail sentence is disproportionate.

If you’re getting very riled up by it and posting on social media, you’re playing into their hands, it’s what they want you to do. Whether you like it or don’t like it, agree with it or disagree, that’s not really the question. I’m not an activist myself but I can see they are going to be on the right side of history; when we look back at irate people in cars on blocked motorways being slightly inconvenienced, they’ll be the ones looking pretty stupid.

Another one who agrees with @PostItInABook

This.

And it’s an erosion of our rights to protest.

You dont win support by inconveniencing others
You lose it and have people celebrating when you get locked up and ignoring your cause
Most wont listen to people who are acting like entitled toddlers

A woman in Aus was forced to give birth on the side of the road cos of an extinction rebellion protest. You think anyone in her family or friends network supports the cause now?
If that were me, id have become an activist to have them shut down and locked up, id be suing them for mental distress and risk to me and my baby
If anything had happened to her or her baby, id have supported them being charged with murder

They should be lobbying MPs for better public transport and taxes on flights so that they reduce the demand for oil.
Messing up daily life for a handful of western countries is ludicrous and has no effect on oil use.

I'm glad they threw the book at them, they didn't throw it hard enough, soft light sentences they'll only serve a fraction of is no deterrent for the cult of idiot they come from. is
They'll never get support from the general public while they keep blocking traffic and destroying precious art works etc.
As for the insulate Britain lot, if they care that much, really care , then why don't they do something practical that can be seen like fundraising to pay for insulating poorer people's houses one at a time all around the country instead of just being annoying entitled shits?

I think they are heros, prepared to sacrifice their health and lives and liberty to save the planet

Please tell me exactly how they are "saving the planet".

I’m sure that the vast majority of people have at least some sympathy with their cause. However, their actions do little to encourage sympathy with them as people and are entirely counter-productive. All they are doing is antagonising the public. They have to find a better way to get their message across than this. Stopping a plumber getting to a job, a lorry driver breaking his hours or a mum trying to get her kids to school is not the way to win hearts and minds.

People on this thread are either dense or ignorant. JSO don't care about popularity or 'winning hearts and minds', that's not the goal. People have tried countless times to use the legal channels, our democratic system is rigged against small parties- lobbying only works if you have financial leverage (you're very rich), petitions and letters to MPs are ignored. The legal and financial systems perpetuate big oil.

I don't think many are realising quite how urgent this is.

@Ineedcoffee2021 if a traffic jam or rta had also caused a delay to someone getting to hospital you would not be accusing them of murder. You don't have a human right to clear roads every time you get in your car, your argument is utterly ridiculous.

100%
Here here! 👏👏👏

@iamtheblcksheep YOU have a day off!

Our rivers and seas are full of shit. Prison to those polluting our world now!

Right?!

Peaceful protest has a long legacy of changing policy. Have you not heard of Gandhi or Martin Luther King?

www.visionofhumanity.org/the-power-of-peaceful-protests/

I agree with their cause. Oil is a big menace to society and I believe a major factor in the cause of modern wars and pollution related dearhs/ asthma etc.
However, their methods are poor and turn people off.

The government want to rob us ofcthe right to protest ...hence heavy sentences.

@@OttilieKnackered
"This. Don’t understand how prison is proportionate for blocking traffic."

People missed medical appointments. This could be a cancer diagnosis.
People missed business meetings. The cost to the economy could be severe.
Blocking traffic also blocks ambulances; one day that you could be you in that ambulance!
I was always under the impression that demonstrations were OK, but blocking traffic was against the law (used to be referred to a blocking the King's highway).

@milveycrohn if a tree falls down and blocks a road... It's just tough. You aren't guaranteed to be somewhere on time just because you drive, there are always risks of delays.

Agree! They are vile and disgusting. I hate to see what they do to art works too. Hopefully we see more of this type of criminals in jail from now on.

Yes, due to random events or accidents, not due to people deliberately holding other people up. Everyone on MN is so hard of thinking these days; it’s not difficult to see the difference between the two

You are right is so ridiculous that you have to explain this. 🙄