JSO supporters blocking the road in central London

CLIMATE change campaigners urged the government to stop wasting time “prosecuting grandmothers, students and doctors” after four of its group were acquitted by a judge.

Miranda Forward, Dave Boden, Chris Hardy and Annotony Cottam who had taken part in the “occupation of Westminster” appeared before District Judge Vanessa Lloyd at Stratford magistrates’ court on Monday facing charges of wilful obstruction of the highway.

They had peacefully blocked roads into Parliament Square with 60 others as part of a “continuous action” in October 2022.

Just Stop Oil is calling for a halt to the licensing of companies to explore and extract fossil fuels that damage the environment.

Mr Boden, said: “For the sake of future generations, other animals and for our life-support systems, I felt I had no other choice but to act in face of climate breakdown, given that our government acts in defiance of all science and reason.”

The court heard the JSO supporters argued that blocking the roads to Parliament Square was proportionate under articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association.

District Judge Lloyd delivered a not guilty verdict after ruling there was no “significant disruption” by the protest, a JSO spokesperson said.

This week 2023 was confirmed as the warmest year on record due to human-caused climate change.

Last year was about 1.48°C warmer than the long-term average before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels, the European Union’s climate service says.

Almost every day since July has seen a new global air temperature high for the time of year.

A JSO spokesperson said: “Instead of prosecuting grandmothers, students and doctors, the courts and police should focus on the breakdown of ordered society that is a guaranteed side effect of more oil extraction. It is a waste of public money, police time, court time and our time. Of Just Stop Oil supporters arrested, less than 50 per cent have ended up in a conviction.

“Politics is failing us, it is time to arrest the real criminals in government, who are planning the deaths of countless millions for the sake of profiting the richest corporations.”

The government introduced tougher penalties in its 2023 public order act in a crackdown against climate change campaigners inconveniencing the public.