Police spend £3m on failed climate protest case
A court has dismissed charges against 15 climate protesters, including four Quakers, accused of planning to "lock on" at the UK's largest power station, Drax, in August 2024.
North Yorkshire Police spent £3 million on pre-emptive arrests in the run up to a peaceful Reclaim the Power protest camp, at a time when the country was experiencing far-right riots.
The dismissal underscores serious concerns raised repeatedly by Quakers in Britain around the repression of dissent and the rights of individuals to bear witness to injustice.
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For Quakers, faith and action are inseparable
- Paul Parker
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The defendants, including Quakers Rosalind Monaghan, Rose Armitage, Adam Woods, and Arlan Jones, were cleared by Leeds Magistrates' Court last week after their defence argued there was insufficient evidence against them.
Police claimed to have seized items for locking on - angle grinders, bolt cutters, superglue, tape, and cable ties - yet defence lawyers pointed out most were standard camping equipment for the six-day gathering. All defendants pleaded not guilty.
Locking on was criminalised in the 2023 Public Order Act, a law criticised as a threat to democratic protest.
The arrests, which took place on 8 August 2024 at Bentley Urban Farm in Doncaster and on the A645 near Goole, led to the cancellation of the planned camp.
The camp was intended to include workshops, communal living, and direct-action highlighting Drax's environmental impact, both in the UK and abroad.
Previously the UK's biggest coal fired power station, Drax now burns wood pellets imported from the USA and is the country's single largest carbon emitter.
Some of the wood comes from old-growth forests, and the toxic processing plants are mostly sited in poor communities of colour in the southern USA.
More than 1,000 police officers from 39 forces around the country were deployed during the operation, codenamed Operation Infusion, a Freedom of Information request revealed.
North Yorkshire Police spent over £3 million on accommodation, vehicle hire, hire of portaloos, carparking, skips and fencing.
Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, said: "For Quakers, faith and action are inseparable. Peaceful protest, prayer, and non-violent action are expressions of our worship.
"When this is criminalised, our religious freedom is under attack."
The four Quakers have been entered into the faith's prison and court register, begun in the 1600s to document Quakers prosecuted for conscience and resistance.
The UN is investigating policing of climate protesters. Read more here.