SYDNEY: Deanna “Violet” Coco blocked a train line in Sydney Harbour for nearly 28 minutes in April, calling for serious action on climate change.
The 28-minute action led to a sentence to serve 15 months in prison. Last week – in a move that attracted international attention – an Australian judge sent Coco to prison after pleading guilty to breaking traffic laws, turning off lights and disobeying police orders to proceed.
The climate campaigner had harmed “the whole community” with her “emotional and selfish behaviour”, said Judge Allison Hawkins. “You hurt your cause when you do childish things like this.”
Coco will be eligible for parole in eight months, but her lawyer plans to challenge the sentence, which she called “extremely harsh” and “absurd”.
“There are five ways over this bridge. He stopped one, and not for long, “Mark Davis told the BBC. The supporter avoided jail time, he said. “It’s almost unprecedented.”
The results of the trial quickly caused an uproar. Small protests were held across Australia and the trial was condemned by human rights groups and some politicians. Human Rights Watch researcher Sophie McNeill said the case sends a terrible message to the world.
Australian Climate Activist was charged on breaking traffic laws.
“We often call on authoritarian governments to treat peaceful protesters with respect and not imprison them… [but] countries like Australia – which should be at the forefront of human rights in the region, as a democracy – and imprisoning those who make peace.
“He said. The UN Special Rapporteur on the peace process, Clément Voule, said he was “saddened by Coco’s guilt”.
“Peaceful protesters should not be criminalized or imprisoned,” he said. Others disagree. There has been much debate in Australia about whether or not peacekeepers should have the right to disrupt business or the lives of civilians. The New South Wales (NSW) state government said it was “on the sidelines of climate change” but could not allow “a large number of anarchist protesters” to destabilize the country.
Prime Minister Dominic Perrottet praised the decision to jail Coco, saying this week: ‘If the protesters want to put our lives at risk then they should throw the book at the head’.
Opposition politician David Shoebridge replied: “Wait until the Prime Minister hears how climate change will put our way of life at risk”.
But Coco’s uncle, Alister Henskens – a state government minister – welcomed the decision, saying that “no one is above the law”. And the media is full of similar words from both sides.
In a video posted online, Coco said she did not want to protest like this, but the weather emergency required “people to enter the streets”. “Obviously it’s not good and it’s not fun, but I understand it’s important because lives are at stake,” she said.
