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Article

14 Jan 2020

Author:
Stuart Braun, Deutsche Welle (Germany)

Increase of anti-protest laws worldwide target climate change protesters

"Anti-protest laws and litigation take aim at climate activism", 13 Jan 2020

On December 3, two Extinction Rebellion (XR) climate activists climbed upon and delayed a coal train in Brisbane, the capital of the northern Australian state of Queensland...

New anti-protest laws pushed through the Queensland parliament in October...threaten sentences of up to two years in prison for using "lock-on" devices to disrupt transport or hinder business in Queensland. The laws were reportedly drafted in consultation with the state's key mining industry lobby...

Such anti-protest laws are becoming a global phenomenon as resistance to fossil fuel projects escalates...States across the US subsequently passed "critical infrastructure" bills that criminalized trespass, and hence protest, around oil pipelines like the Keystone XL.

A year later in Germany, climate justice activists who blockaded a coal power plant were charged and also sued for an unprecedented €2 million ($2.2 milion) by the owner, fossil fuel giant RWE...

But now the activists face a €2-million civil lawsuit from RWE for damages...