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Global climate movement put on trial in Denmark: two Danish spokespersons are made scapegoats
Today, On Wednesday 6th of October, the trial against the two spokespersons from the Global Network "Climate Justice Action” (CJA), Stine Gry Jonassen and Tannie Nyboe, begins. During the climate summit in Copenhagen in December last year, CJA organised several non-violent civil disobedience protests, including the "Reclaim Power - Push for Climate Justice" rally on 16th of December. Stine Gry and Tannie were both the public face of the movement but now they stand accused of being organisers and instigators of violence and vandalism.
Stine Gry Jonassen explains: "in several months before the summit, both of us acted as spokespersons for Climate Justice Action and we openly spoke about the demonstration on 16th of December. However, it does not turn us into principal organisers: the demonstration was planned jointly at international meetings with several hundred participants. Therefore, it is not reasonable to identify two people out of many as leaders just because they have chosen to be public faces.”
Both of them are shocked by the accusations that they were to have instigated violence. Tannie Nyboe explains: "we have all along emphasized that Reclaim Power was a non-violent demonstration. The purpose was not to achieve a confrontation with the police but to have a public gathering focusing on climate justice, with participations from both outside and inside the Bella Centre.“
Stine Gry Jonassen adds: "This lawsuit sends a significant message; if you have the nerve to rise up and have a critical point of view of society, you can end up in jail. It is absurd that a large public movement as CJA is criminalised because they dared to criticise the ongoing negotiations during the climate change summit - especially in the light of how poorly things turned out with the negotiations and how criticisable Denmark's role was."
Contacts:
Phone: (+45) 50 58 87 51
E-mail: media@climatecollective.org
Background:
Climate Justice Action (CJA) is a global network of social movements and groups, which mobilised and called out for protests during the climate summit in Copenhagen in December last year, in order to challenge the insubstantial political negotiations at the Bella Centre and demanding just solutions to the climate problems. On 16th of December, CJA organised the demonstration "Reclaim Power - Push for Climate Justice" to give voice to the people mostly affected by climate changes – the same people who were not heard inside the Bella Centre.
At the time, Stine Gry and Tannie were spokespersons for the movement and argued for the right to protest and for the freedom of speech. They are now made responsible for planning the "Reclaim Power" demonstration and they are accused of plotting violence against an official in function, of severe vandalism, of serious disturbance of public peace and order, and of illegal trespassing.
The trial of the two spokespersons takes place in Copenhagen City Court on 6th, 27th, and 28th of October 2010 at 9.30 AM.
Campaign:
”I also shouted PUSH”
The police can and should not hold individuals responsible for the actions and decisions of a whole movement; therefore, a campaign called “I also shouted PUSH” is launched in connection to the trial. This is done in order to clarify that there were several hundred people shouting PUSH at the Bella Centre on 16th December and that is was not an action in which Tannie and Stine Gry can be held personally liable to.
For further information: www.climatecollective.org/push
Source: email