Just Stop Oil activists who sprayed Stonehenge with orange powder cleared following trial

14 comments

1. What’s the point following the law? Just cite human rights and you can do anything.

2. What precedent does this set, is it now okay to spray paint protected monuments? 😏

3. I don’t really see how this result is actually compatible with the law. Cleared of some charges, sure. But they *did* deface Stonehenge.

   If they’ve been cleared of doing that despite having openly done that then they’ve set a precedent that no protected monument is actually protected. The only question is if it’s a legal precedent or a defacto precedent where anybody can deface a monument, label it a protest and then expect to be cleared of the charges.

4. I wonder if maybe, were I on the jury of that particular case, I might be swayed by arguments that 10,000 tonnes of oil is spilled worldwide as the increasingly damaging effects of climate change are unravelling and that oil companies know all this, do very little about it (in the case of climate change- actively try to undermine this) and never face any consequences- and that maybe, the people who protest this might have a point

5. I always thought JSO was a plant org by big oil to create outrage in the right wing media. This too fits the bill. Damage an iconic building, get let off the hook and do it again. OUTRAGE in Daily Hail, WhAT iS THisCOUntry ComiNG to?

6. From the Guardian article, especially for those who have strong, uninformed opinions:

   *During his summing up, Judge Dugdale said that to find the three guilty, the jury would have had to be satisfied a conviction would be a proportionate interference in their rights to freedom of expression and protest.*

   *He said: “If individuals disagree with what our government is doing on certain matters they are entitled to protest.*

   *“For any of the defendants to be convicted, you have to be sure not just that they had committed the elements of the offence but you also have to be sure that a conviction … would be a proportionate interference with their human rights to express their opinions and protest against government inaction.”*

7. I assume they were cleared because the prosecution was unable to prove any damage caused to stonehenge.

8. Because the prosecutors decided to charge them with Criminal Damage and Public Nuisance then it turned out there was no real damage, there was minimal actual disruption and the orange powder was cleaned off almost immediatly for a total cost of £620. Had the events not got so much media attention its likely it never would have been prosecuted in the first place.

   The relevence of the ECHR is that the defendents refered to their right to protest and freedom of expression as part of their defence, unsuprisingly given it was a protest.

9. Irrespective of the outcome or what you think of JSO…. 10 fucking days trial for this bullshit. No wonder there’s a backlog in the courts. You’ve got SA victims waiting years for justice and some fucking hippies with cornflour tie up hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of of the legal system.

10. The lawyers are the true winners here. From both sides. 10 day trial for this!

11. Lol I am against a lot of how JSO protest but let’s face it, even if they were found guilty, you’re probably just looking at them having to repay the cost to clean up their mess and a suspended sentence and even if jail was on the cards, I’d rather have their taken up by an actual violent threat.

12. The alleged damages were £620 (and I suspect that was overstated,). Rather than deal with it in the magistrates court which would probably have meant a small fine it was decided to do the full trial. I suspect that nonsense was part of the reason they were acquitted

13. So it cost £620 to clean up the orange powder, doesn’t look like any damage was done. Wonder how much damage pollution has done to Stonehenge in the past few decades?

    Is also interesting how this vandalism gets the full force of the law, but not seeing those badly spray painting red crosses everywhere get prosecuted yet. That’s been costs far more than £620 to clean up. Not to mention all the fly-tipping of their temu flags.

14. I mean protest by all means but dont damage or vandalize shit doing so.

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