British police are arresting climate change and environmental activists at a rate almost three times higher than the global average, according to researchers at the University of Bristol.
Australia had the highest rate of arrests of protesters, with one in five arrested by police. This is followed by the UK at 17%, well above the international average of 6.3%.
The report, led by the University of Bristol, is the first to examine global statistics on this form of protest. The report found that a number of new anti-protest laws have been enacted, and an increasing number of countries are criminalizing and repressing protests in order to suppress them.
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Nonviolent protesters were being sentenced to long prison terms as a deterrent. In the UK, for example, a number of climate change activists have been sent to prison this year, with the maximum sentence being five years.
Researchers have identified the main methods used to criminalize and suppress climate and environmental protests.
These include the introduction of anti-protest laws. Criminalization of groups, introduction of new crimes. Make penalties for existing crimes more severe. Strengthening police powers. And it gives police officers impunity if they harm activists. Protest activities can also be criminalized through prosecutors and courts.
Dr. Oskar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy at the university’s School of Policy Studies, is the lead author of the report.
They say: “This study sheds important light on how growing climate change and environmental protests are being handled globally. It clearly shows that repression is taking place.”
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National policies are more focused on punishing dissent for inaction than on taking action against climate and environmental damage. “It also represents an authoritarian move that is inconsistent with the ideals of a vibrant civil society in liberal democracies,” they added.
Earlier this year, Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders under the Aarhus Convention, expressed “grave concern” about the UK’s “increasing crackdown” on environmental protests.
They specifically flagged the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023, which introduce criminal offenses of “public nuisance” with penalties of up to 10 years in prison.
He added: “Until these laws were introduced, the jailing of ordinary people for peaceful protest had been almost unheard of in the UK since the 1930s,” calling the new law “regressive”. criticized.
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Katherine Early is a freelance environmental journalist. ecologist. Find her at BlueSky @catearly.bsky.social.
