Just Stop Oil’s harsh sentences are the logical outcome of Britain’s authoritarian turn against protest

By Graeme Hayes, Reader in Political Sociology, Aston University
Steven Cammiss, Associate Professor, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham

Lengthy prison sentences have been imposed on five Just Stop Oil activists for coordinating direct action on the M25, the main ring road around London. For a non-violent protest, there is no equivalent in modern times.

The five years for Roger Hallam and four years for the remaining four: Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Cressida Gethin and Lucia Whittaker de Abreu, have been widely condemned as grossly disproportionate. According to one snap poll,…

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