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Over the last decade, Britain has increasingly criminalised non-violent disruptive protest, with new offences, long prison sentences, and the proscription of Palestine Action. This has brought an unprecedented number of activists to trial.
Based on a decade of courtroom observation, this book shows how judges contain political argument, prosecutors recast protest as isolated criminality, and activists resist and reclaim their agency.
Through case studies of climate, anti-racist, anti-deportation and Palestine solidarity trials, the book examines the removal of legal defences, the rise of jury equity, activists’ self-representation, and the toll of delay in a crumbling justice system. In doing so, it reveals the courtroom as a primary battleground in the struggle for the right to protest, exploring how trials can better respect the integrity of activists and the democratic value of dissent.
1. Introduction: Defending Protest
2. Context: Protest Trials in the Authoritarian Turn
3. Power, Silencing and Resistance: Conceptualising Conflict in the Coutrtoom
4. 'This Case if About Safety, Safeguarding and the Avoidance of Harm to People': The Trials of the Stansted 15
5. 'Get That Racist Fucker From Here': The Trial of the Colston 4 As a Communicative Endeavour
6. 'Elbit Out of Oldham': The Protest Trial After the Campaign Has Won
7. 'The Rule of Law' Versus 'The Rule of the Sledgehammer': The Trials of the Teledyne 4
8. 'Heads Up, I Plan to Tell the Truth in Front of the Jury': Developing Resistant Capacity in Climate Trials
9. Conclusion: Judicial Containment in a Decaying Criminal Justice System