In April 2021 nine members of Extinction Rebellion aged between 23 and 71, caused £500,000 worth of damage to high-security windows at HSBC Canary Warf’s HQ. They arrived armed with club hammers and large chisels with which they proceeded to attack 16 security windows. They were all charged with criminal damage. The jury when it came to court, found them not guilty – persuaded by the nine’s expensive defence lawyers.
However, on Thursday Judge Christopher Hehir sentenced the self-proclaimed leader of Extinction Rebellion, Roger Hallam, to five years in prison and four associates to four years for conspiracy to bring the M25 London arterial motorway to a halt by climbing gantries, causing chaos over four days in November 2022. Let’s hope that the learned judge sets a precedent for others to follow.
The irony about Just Stop Oil is that if we stopped oil production, modern life would come crashing to a halt. Renew
able energy, for example, requires oil to function. Building a wind farm without fossil fuels is impossible. The hill tracks are made by diesel-powered machines, the tower sections transported by superheavy diesel lorries, the towers themselves made of highquality steel which requires coking coal and blast furnaces, the (non-recyclable) rotors made of a composite plastic made from oil, and of course the gearboxes filled with gallons of special oil. Petrochemicals derived from oil make the production of more than 6,000 everyday products and hi-tech items possible. Just look around your home and count some now.
We cannot be blackmailed by a cult spreading fear and alarm and acting as eco-fascists. Let’s hope that these sentences will be followed by others even more severe if these so-called “protests” continue.
William Loneskie Lauder, Scottish Borders
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