Britain: London rejects UN envoy’s criticism of detention over climate protests

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“It is entirely right that selfish demonstrators who want to inflict suffering on the hard-working majority should expect severe punishment,” the conservative government leader wrote on Tuesday on the online platform X (formerly Twitter). The BBC previously quoted from a letter from Fry to the British government. In it, he expressed concern about activists’ rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

The two men, including a German, blocked a major motorway bridge east of London for about a day and a half in October 2022. They have been sentenced to three to two years in prison under a new, strict law with which the government wants to prevent radical forms of protest, especially from climate activists. Critics accuse the conservative government of drastically restricting the right to demonstrate. The Tories, in turn, emphasize that they want to protect the law-abiding majority of residents.

In his letter, dated in mid-August but only now made public, Fry criticized the sentences as much harsher than in previous cases. The special envoy now told the BBC that he had set a 60-day deadline for a response, which had expired. This reflects “a general disregard for human rights issues by the current government,” Fry criticized. On the other hand, Sunak stressed: “Anyone who breaks the law must face the full severity of it.” This is what the public expects and what the government has done.

(SDA)

Source:Blick