Former NHS worker from Lancaster jailed for taking part in oil blockade

Caroline Cattermole was among 51 supporters of Just Stop Oil to be imprisoned on Thursday following the blockade.

The imprisonment of such a large number of nonviolent protesters in one day is understood to be unprecedented.

They are demanding that the UK government stops all new oil and gas projects.

The High Court granted the injunction earlier this year, which gives sweeping powers of arrest, and prohibits any protest activity near the site – the largest inland oil storage facility in the country.

Eleven protesters were arrested and subsequently imprisoned in May this year for holding a placard on the grass verge outside the site – an activity that was, at the time, prohibited by the injunction and carried a possible two year jail sentence. A number of legal professionals have described it as draconian.Caroline Cattermole, who has already broken the injunction earlier this year and was one of the 51 remanded to prison on Thursday said: “I'm just an ordinary person who's become so desperate that I'm now willing to go to jail in an attempt to force the Government to act.

"Our new Prime Minister is planning to give the go-ahead to 130 new UK oil and gas projects later this year, and is subsidising the fossil fuel industry to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds each week, while people die in their homes because they can't afford the heating bills.

"We're sleepwalking towards climate and societal collapse and we need to act immediately - we're out of time. I'm terrified of going to jail, but I can't go to my grave knowing that I've stood by and allowed corporate greed to destroy any chance our young people may still have of a liveable future.”All 51 defendants refused to comply with court proceedings. They refused to stand for the judge, and read statements which included “I don’t accept the authority of this court. This court upholds the law in favour of corporations causing genocide and ecocide. If I’m released today I’ll go back and block the oil terminal again, and I will not voluntarily return to this court”.

Having read their statements they turned their backs to the judge in an act of defiance against what they believe to be the High Court’s complicity in the criminalisation of legitimate and nonviolent protest.

All 51 were remanded and face up to two years in prison, unlimited fines and the seizure of their assets.

They will be taken from prison back to court next Thursday for sentencing.A Just Stop Oil spokesman said: “Those jailed knew what they risked. The don’t want sympathy. They want you to join them in resisting a government that is prepared to see the vulnerable mistreated, millions reduced to destitution while they burn our rights, freedoms and our security. From October 1 in Westminster, Just Stop Oil will be organising for the largest act of civil disobedience in UK history.”Since April 1, when supporters of Just Stop Oil first began blocking oil terminals, there have been over 1350 arrests.