Coal’s Judgement Day

A jury in the north of England will decide today whether 22 climate change activists who boarded a coal train heading to the notorious Drax power station are innocent or guilty. The accused had stopped a train carrying 42,000 tonnes of coal in June last year on its way to Drax in North Yorkshire, the biggest coal-fired power station in Europe. Coal is seen as the dirtiest fossil fuel there is and the issue of coal burning power stations is rising up the political agenda in Europe and US. To see a video of the original protest go here. The activists flagged the train down using fake signalmen and then occupied it for 16 hours, arguing that the action was “necessary and proportionate to prevent the crime of carbon emissions” and the deaths that result from them. The defendants had repeatedly tried to make the wider case about... [read full story]                    

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