London, UK — Today, thirteen individuals who blockaded a runway last summer to protest against expanding Heathrow airport avoided being sent to prison. A court has handed them six-week suspended sentences in addition to community service. The group known as the Heathrow 13 has previously been warned to expect jail sentences, which would have marked the first prison sentences for climate protesters in the UK. 350.org issued the following reactions:
350.org Europe Team Leader Nicolò Wojewoda said: “As the climate crisis unfolds and politicians still fail to act, we need people like the Heathrow 13 more than ever. We should be immensely grateful for their courage to take action at high personal risk. The past teaches us that ordinary people taking extraordinary action can change the course of history; and more and more people are preparing to take civil disobedience to prevent the climate disaster from spiraling out of control.”
350.org’s Global Managing Director Payal Parekh said: “Where politicians fail, it’s up to ordinary citizens to take action. As the temperatures rise, so do people around the world. All over, people are getting ready for civil disobedience to keep the coal, oil and gas that is cooking our climate in the ground.”
Groups around the world are currently preparing mass mobilisations to shut down major fossil fuel projects on six continents in a series of actions from 7-15 May. The Break Free wave of actions will target oil wells in Nigeria, coal mines in Germany and Australia, fracking in Brazil and coal plants in Turkey and the Philippines among others.
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For more information: https://www.planestupid.com/content/heathrow-trial
Media pack: First climate prisoners in the UK mark onset of escalated climate action, 19 February 2016
CONTACT
350 press contacts:
Melanie Mattauch, 350.org Europe Communications Coordinator
[email protected], +49 151 5812 0184, skype: melanie.mattauch
Nicolò Wojewoda, 350.org Europe Team Leader
[email protected], +44 7 58 264 2004
Heathrow 13 press contact: [email protected], +44 7 745 207 765