Roger Hallam, Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin were charged with conspiracy to cause a public nuisance for organising direct action protests that caused gridlock on the motorway in November 2022.
The court heard that each defendant had appeared on a Zoom call to recruit activists to take part in the protests, under the banner of the Just Stop Oil campaign, which involved climbing the gantries over the motorway on which signs hang.
According to the prosecution, over four days the campaign caused disruption leading to a "notional economic loss" of almost £750,000, in addition to a cost of almost £1m to the police.
At times, the two-and-a-half-week trial descended into chaos. Defendants were arrested for contempt and dragged by police and custody officers into the dock and down to the cells when they refused to leave the witness box or spoke out of turn, claiming they were not being given the chance to present their full case.
This story is from the July 12, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the July 12, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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