Why we're fighting to protect our right to protest

Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK intervened in a crucial legal appeal over the right to protest. In July 2024, 5 peaceful climate activists received record prison sentences – up to 5 years – for joining a Zoom call and discussing an M25 protest to raise the alarm over ongoing oil extraction. We helped challenge these excessive sentences in a mass appeal involving a total of 16 Just Stop Oil activists, who collectively faced 41 years behind bars for peaceful protest.

Until recently, such harsh punishments were almost unheard of. We argued these sentences breached human rights laws and were disproportionate. 

We’re pleased that our legal intervention has helped see some of these sentences reduced. Six of the 16 activists won their appeals to have their sentences reduced, including the 5 climate activists who joined the Zoom call and who had received the longest sentences originally.

This is a positive development for the environmental movement as a whole, and for all peaceful movements holding the government to account.

Katie de Kauwe, senior lawyer at Friends of the Earth

More needs to be done, however. Not all of the activists’ sentences were reduced, and we don't believe that people should be sent to jail for sounding the alarm peacefully about the climate crisis. We’re now urging the government to repeal restrictive anti-protest laws introduced by the previous administration, restoring the UK’s commitment to civil liberties. We’re doing this because protest is essential to push for action on the climate and nature crises.

Protest has driven historic struggles, from women’s suffrage to civil rights to LGBTQIA+ rights, and has transformed our lives. The fights of yesterday have afforded us many freedoms today. Here are just some of the reasons why protest is important and why we should fight to protect our right to protest.

1. Influence laws

Women in the UK fought an extraordinary battle to get the right to vote. In 1908, the suffragettes held the biggest demonstration in history (up until that point). Over 1,000 suffragettes were imprisoned for taking part in activism.

Eventually, following many forms of protest – including hunger strikes, marches and writing about their cause in newspapers – women were granted the right to vote, changing the course of democracy in the UK forever. 

2. Challenge racial injustice 

It’s hard to comprehend that just 60 years ago, it was entirely legal to deny people a job because of their race. And that's exactly what was going on in Bristol in the 1960s. Despite labour shortages, the Bristol Omnibus Company refused to employ Black or Asian people. Inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott and Rosa Parks, Paul Stevenson helped lead a boycott against the bus company. Hundreds of people took part in the non-violent protest. 

Within 6 months, the company lifted their ban against employing Black and Asian workers. His actions also contributed to the passing of the Race Relations Act in UK Parliament in 1965. 

3. Make our lives safer

Fracking isn’t great for a number of reasons. As well as contributing to climate breakdown, fracking poses contamination risks to drinking water due to the chemicals used in the fracking process and the methane gas that's extracted. 

The campaign to stop fracking was greatly helped by a variety of protest methods, including that used by a group of women from Lancashire. Self-titled the Fracking Nanas, they donned yellow tabards and matching headscarves to protest outside proposed fracking sites. Day in, day out, they gathered to chant, educate and sometimes even give out cake.

Their peaceful and persistent style of protest paid off. After eight years of campaigning and protests by the Nanas, local groups, NGOs and supporters, the UK government announced a moratorium (temporary ban) on fracking in 2019. While fracking reared its head again in September 2022, when then Prime Minister Liz Truss lifted the ban, the government has since re-imposed the moratorium. This was another fantastic achievement for people across the country who stood up to the threat of fracking.

4. Protect nature 

Protests can be effective at highlighting lesser-known issues, particularly when they’ve got a creative angle. Campaigner Nick Rau helped to organise a protest against the Sakhalin-2 (an oil and gas development in a biodiverse-rich area of Russia) by staging an elaborate whale funeral, complete with a life-size whale skeleton and accompanied by amplified whale sounds.

The protest shone a light on the plight of the endangered Western Pacific Grey Whale, as well the hugely rich biodiversity of Sakhalin island.

5. Create community spirit and future campaigners 

Protests don't always lead to immediate action, as many activists know. But whether it's a short-term campaign or a campaign that lasts years, protest and the act of coming together over a joint cause can help forge true community spirit.

The youth climate strikes are a case in point. By walking out of schools and taking to the streets, the strikes have brought together a new generation of activists and prompted a groundswell of community climate groups across the country.