A primary school teacher who glued herself to offices used by a coal firm justified her actions in court today because fossil fuels ‘passes a death sentence on many people’.
Shulamit Morris-Evans, 23, allegedly glued her hands to a building where Global Coal Management (GCM) was hosting its annual general meeting, causing £2,152 worth of damage.
Along with fellow Extinction Rebellion protesters Angela Ditchfield, 40, and Amy Pritchard, 34, the trio are accused of causing criminal damage by blocking entrance barriers inside the office building at 33 Cavendish Square, central London.
Shulamit Morris-Evans (centre) , 23, allegedly glued her hands to a building where Global Coal Management (GCM) was hosting its annual general meeting, causing £2,152 worth of damage
The primary school teacher who glued herself to offices used by a coal firm justified her actions in court today because fossil fuels ‘passes a death sentence on many people’
City of London Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday that the three women were motivated to act against the coal company because of its plans to build a coal mine in Bangladesh.
Environmental campaigners say such plans would cause serious loss of life and fuel a climate emergency.
Morris-Evans, Ditchfield and Pritchard admitted glueing themselves to the turnstiles but said they did not intend to damage them, and argued their actions were proportionate.
GCM had rented an office from Regus in the central London office block for its annual general meeting on December 28 last year.
CCTV footage played in court showed the three women entering the building and briefly speaking to staff before kneeling between the barriers and glueing their left hands in place.
Office building manager Jonathan Bayfield told the court the women were glued to the turnstiles for between three and four hours before a specialist removal team was called.
Representing herself, Morris-Evans said: ‘There was a company not only continuing to burn fossil fuels but building infrastructure to mine coal, one of the dirtiest fuels out there. (other XR protesters alongside Morris-Evans are pictured)
Mr Bayfield said the protesters left glue residue on the metal panels and glass of the gates, which were old and difficult to replace, hence the high cost.
Representing herself, Morris-Evans said: ‘There was a company not only continuing to burn fossil fuels but building infrastructure to mine coal, one of the dirtiest fuels out there.
‘I wanted to communicate to those attending the AGM that what they were doing was morally untenable.’
Morris-Evans said it was ‘morally incumbent’ on her to take action against the company.
‘At the point of crisis that we are in, the people who are carrying on with this murderous kind of madness to carry on building and extracting fossil fuels are essentially passing a death sentence on many people, not including whole species,’ she continued.
‘We are playing with fire, quite literally. These people need to understand powerfully that they cannot simply continue what they are doing.
‘My intention was to not stand by while something so morally egregious was taking place.’
Ditchfield, from Cambridge, told the court she was ‘horrified’ when she was told about the planned coal mine in north-west Bangladesh which could displace 240,000 people.
She said she joined the protest to hold the company accountable, telling the judge: ‘The only way we could stop them was to stand directly in the way of their actual working procedures that they need to get through to carry on their activities and carry on raising money, which was their AGM.’
Emma Foubister, defending, asked: ‘How did you think your actions on December 28 would help those people you described?’
Ditchfield replied: ‘I wanted to stop their actions, or it would be a step towards stopping the project going through so those people would know they could go on at least with their homes.’
Pritchard, of no fixed address, and Ditchfield each had a charge of aggravated trespass dropped.
Morris-Evans, of north London, had a charge of trespasser failing to leave land dropped.
Deputy District Judge Paul Booty said the three women were arrested for criminal damage before they were physically able to comply with a police instruction to leave the property, meaning it could not be proved that they intentionally trespassed.
The trial continues.