Chris Packham Slams ‘Sickening’ Media and Met Police Over Just Stop Oil Case – And Urges Government to Repeal Law Before Protests ‘Escalate’

Chris Packham believes that the sentencing of five Just Stop Oil protestors to lengthily jail terms last week was “one of the most grim moments of my entire life”, as the naturalist and broadcaster revealed his fears that peaceful protests may “escalate” and that the law may be applied to other groups.

On 18 July, 57-year-old Roger Hallam was jailed for five years and his co-accused, Daniel Shaw, 38, Louise Lancaster, 58, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu, 34, and Cressida Gethin, 22, were sentenced to four years.

The protestors were found guilty the previous week of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance for organising direct action protests to block the M25 during a Zoom call in November 2022.

Packham told the Byline Times Podcast with Adrian Goldberg that he had never felt “physically sick” from hearing something before, “but in the aftermath of listening to the judge dismember any mitigation that they (the Just Stop Oil protestors) proffered in terms of their health requirements, the fact that they were carers, their age, their education, so on and so forth in what can only be described as judicial thuggery. Without any shred of compassion. I did feel physically sick.”

Listen to the podcast here.

The sentences led to UN Special Rapporteur for Environmental Defenders, Michel Forst, suggesting that the “purely punitive and repressive nature” of them may violate the UK’s obligations under international human rights law.

The sentencing followed a chaotic two-and-a-half-week trial in which four of the defendants were arrested and imprisoned for contempt of court after repeatedly ignoring a ruling from Judge Christopher Hehir prohibiting them from using the climate breakdown as a defence. 

The judge also ordered, a few days into the trial, on 2 July, the arrest of 11 protestors outside the court who were silently holding placards displaying the words, “Juries deserve to hear the whole truth” and “Juries have the absolute right to acquit a defendant on their conscience”. 

Packham said the protestors being denied the right to defend themselves was “one of the strangest phenomenon about this case”, and one that he fears – and thinks the public need to be aware – could be applied to other defendants.

“The way that the law has been structured and the way that the judiciary is acting means that it could be wrought upon any activist of any kind, any protestor, so whilst at the moment it is focused on those that are justifiably raising the alarm when it comes to climate, let’s not forget that, you know, in a month’s time, in two months time, in six months time, that you know, this could be about human rights, this could be about gender rights, this could be about the right to strike.”

Packham added that these “repressive laws set a very dangerous precedent and it’s important that we do everything we can now as rapidly as possible, given that this case has reached a level of international condemnation, to make sure that these laws are repealed, and more sensible laws are put in place”.

Packham also lamented how the media focus was on the “disruption” caused to motorists on the M25 and the costs, while “so little attention was paid to the environmental damage caused by climate change, which is what the protestors were concerned about”.

During the trial, the court heard the group tried to recruit activists to take part in the protests, that, according to the prosecution, caused disruption leading to a “notional economic loss” of almost £750,000, in addition to a cost of almost £1 million to the police.

Packham contrasted the action with the State Opening of Parliament, questioning what the police bill for that would be given the “colossal number of police and security agents there”.

“I’m not saying we don’t, we shouldn’t pay for them to protect our King and our new government, Prime Minister, etc. But focusing on the policing costs of this is not entirely rational.”

Packham said the M25 is a “bloody carpark for 365 days of the year” causing people to miss hospital appointments and funerals “whether Just Stop Oil are involved or not”.

“And when you consider the impacts of those inconveniences, compared to what you can look at on social media today, with the flooding and the burning and the displacement of people and starvation happening all over the global South, thanks to climate breakdown, they pale into insignificance, we’ve got to take a reality check here on so many accounts.”

Packham then turned his attention to the media, firstly, “the lack of perspective that’s generated by the mainstream press and the lack of reasonable accounting for mainstream news media this week has been simply appalling”.

Then, the role the media played more generally: “I think that the right wing press with their tags of eco zealot eco loon eco mob tried to demonise these people to protect their paymasters, who are those fossil fuel giants. And it’s who are the bad guys here?”

Packham was particularly frustrated with The Sun. One of the tabloid’s journalists infiltrated the zoom call that got the Just Stop Oil protestors caught, and notified police.

“Here’s our police being led by a tabloid right wing newspaper,” he told the Byline Times Podcast. “What was most sickening, actually, and I had to really put my keyboard down was when I saw that journalist gloating the following day about the extent of the sentences which had been given to these climate activists, I mean, I can’t tell you how I felt.”

The Metropolitan Police, Packham said, also “let themselves down”. The force, he said, posted on X (formerly Twitter), “gloating over the extent of the sentences I thought was ill judged If I’m honest with you, it didn’t serve the many purpose.”

Packham said the Government, who have been very vocal on the environment since coming into power earlier this month, must be “looking at the fraud that’s been generated in the first few days of their office”, and must act to address it: “If they were wise, they would do everything they could to address this issue immediately. And certainly make sure that the sorts of sentences that were meted out this week are never seen again.”

The environmentalist said senior politicians he had spoken with in recent years had expressed “significant concerns about not listening to peaceful protests” because history had shown “they escalate, and they will become evermore violent”.

“That’s not what we want. That’s not who we are. As climate activists, we are essentially completely pacifist,” Packham explained, adding: “But when we see government’s ignoring their capacities to do good and protect people from harm, when we see insidious corporations still commanding extreme power and generating vast profits doing harm to our planet. We’re not going to sit back and take it because our conscience will make us stand up and act this this problem isn’t going away.”

But, Packham is hopeful: “We’ve got the right people in the right jobs now. And that signifies significant hope.”

“My job, therefore, is to agitate and promote conversation to get the public on board to make sure that they understand why our politicians will have to act in certain ways and why sometimes that will come at a cost to the public purse, or it will come at the cost of that we will have to change our minds and the way that we act as individuals, we will have to stop imagining that everything that we are confronted by when it comes to climate breakdown is a problem and start to see some of it as opportunities.”

While Packham conceded the sentences may stop some environmentalists from “finding the courage to move up” and become more active, he doesn’t think it will serve as a deterrent as “this case has reverberated way outside the climate activists camp… it’s ignited a concern amongst many other people about the state of UK justice… it’s become a bigger conversation.”

Packham said while Just Stop Oil has “irritated and alienated” a large number of the public – “facilitated by the right-wing press” – protestors need to change their methods, because the “message” isn’t getting through. Reports, he said, focus only on the methods used by protestors.

“You know, no one can dispute the motive. The motive is pure. They understand the science, they listen to the scientists, they’re scared, they’re frightened for their futures, mine and yours, and they have the bravery to stand up and try and communicate that to the public,” he explained, adding: “That’s their motive. I don’t think anyone could dispute that isn’t pure at heart. The method is disruptive nonviolent protest, but in the hands of the media, all that gets presented is you know, stories of the method.”

Packham said throwing soup over paintings, planes and historic sites, “has all been done”, and despite gaining a lot of media coverage, “it didn’t get the message across. And that’s what we’ve got to be cleverer in doing. And we’ve got to find a way of manipulating that media to make sure that the message does go across.”

He cited the lack of media coverage for the Restore Nature Now rally in London on 22 June as an example of the difficult climate protestors face in getting their message heard. At the rally, speakers blamed the media‘s lack of interest in environmental issues for Just Stop Oil needing to take drastic action.

The rally attracted an unprecedented 400-plus environmental groups and crowds of 100,000, yet was barely covered by the media, including the BBC.

“You might argue we wasted our time… we just needed to chuck some paint somewhere. But that’s not what we’re about. Because that message wouldn’t have been delivered by the BBC or anyone else,” Packham said.

“We’ve got to be clever. We’ve got to come up with methods of protest, which allow us to control that narrative and deliver the message hard and fast, so that people can think clearly about the opportunities they have in their lives to make a positive difference when it comes to addressing climate breakdown. That’s our mission.”

Packham concluded: “You know, football didn’t come home this summer, but I can guarantee you one thing, climate change is coming home to the UK fast.”

Listen to Chris Packham talk about the Just Stop Oil case here