On Thursday afternoon, Climate Liberation Aotearoa (CLA) supporters gathered outside the British High Commission in solidarity with 16 imprisoned members of Just Stop Oil, a British environmental activist group.

Protesters held signs and banners reading ‘Protest is not a Crime” and “Free the Lord Walney 16” as they marched to the British High Commission, where they handed the Deputy High Commissioner, John Pearson, a letter of solidarity with the activists sentenced up to 5 years in prison for participating in peaceful protests. Pearson told CLA supporters the message would be semt to the UK government.

17 white ribbons were tied to the gate of the High Commission, one for each of the protesters and one for Xavier Gonzalez-Trimmer (22).

The 16 Just Stop Oil protesters were sentenced to a combined 41 years in prison for peaceful protest in the United Kingdom, after Lord Walney, former Labour Party politician John Woodcock, called for members of Just Stop Oil and Palestine Action to be treated as organised criminals. Woodcock currently acts as the British independent adviser on political violence and disruption; however, recent research indicates that Woodcock has financial ties to weapons and oil industries. Woodcock’s report came less than a year after another Just Stop Oil protester, Xavi Gonzalez-Trimmer, took his own life after spending three weeks in jail and facing six criminal charges for peaceful protest actions.

According to CLA spokesperson Caz Sheldon, “It’s obvious that it isn’t the actions of these protesters that has engendered such a harsh response, but their message. It’s even worse for activists in the Global South. A recent report revealed that 85% of environmental activists murdered in 2023 were from South America, many of them Indigenous peoples.”

Says Caz, “We are extremely concerned that the United Kingdom’s increasingly harsh treatment of protesters will soon make its way to Aotearoa as well particularly in light of the Crimes (Countering Foreign Interference) Amendment Bill currently before Parliament. At a time when we’re facing unprecedented climate change-related disasters and horrific human rights abuses around the world, the last thing we need is a crackdown on peaceful protesters.”

Climate Liberation Aotearoa also has seven members, nicknamed the “Aerial 7,” who are set to stand trial in February and March for peaceful protests they undertook in 2022, in which they held up traffic by dangling over tunnels and climbing gantries to demand government action on climate change. At the time, Climate Liberation Aotearoa operated under the name Restore Passenger Rail. This is the first of up to six climate trials arising from Restore Passenger Rail activities in and around Wellington in 2022-23.

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