Insulate Britain eco-zealot goes on HUNGER STRIKE after she is jailed for ...

An Insulate Britain eco-zealot is going on hunger strike in prison after she and eight others were jailed on Wednesday for their roadblocking demos.

Emma Smart, 44, was handed a four-month sentence alongside Ben Buse, 36, Roman Paluch-Machnik, 28, Oliver Rock, 41, Tim Speers, 36, and James Thomas, 47, for taking part in a protest on the M25 on October 8. Ana Heyatawin, 58, and Louis McKechnie, 20, were jailed for three months.

Smart told the court that the proceedings were 'obscene' and glowered at barristers representing National Highways. However, the biologist has been criticised for undertaking a gas-guzzling 81,000-mile drive across the globe with her husband Andy Smith.

Announcing her intention to go on hunger strike after being jailed, Smart said: 'Our Government is betraying us, betraying our vulnerable people and betraying our children's future.

'I believe that my intentions are morally right, even if my actions are deemed legally wrong. This court may see me as being on the wrong side of the law, but in my heart I know I am on the right side of history. I will not be a bystander.'  

Mr Smith, 45, who volunteers as a climate activist full time but has not taken part in any demonstrations with Extinction Rebellion offshoot Insulate Britain, said he is 'terrified' for her as she spends Christmas behind bars. 

'She is incredibly resolute in her actions,' he said. 'I stand by her in all the decisions she makes.   

'All nine of them in court today were pretty resolute that you can sentence them, but this isn't going to resolve the problem and people will still continue to protest. Obviously I'm terrified. It's a horrible thing for her to go through but I stand by her decision to do that.'

Mr Smith said he was aware that Smart would be going on a hunger strike if she was put behind bars, adding: 'It's something we discuss quite frequently'.  

Smart told the court on Wednesday that she was there to 'ensure future survival' and compared watching the climate crisis to watching a child trapped in a burning house. 

'I'm asking when you consider my sentence that my actions are proportionate to the crisis we are facing, where 8,500 people die a year from cold and hunger in their own homes,' she said. 'I cannot stand by and watch. I would run to them.'  

 'Our Government is betraying us, our vulnerable people and our children's future. I will not be a bystander while our Government fails and betrays its people, I will continue to do what is necessary.' 

Insulate Britain began a wave of protests on September 13, demanding that the Government makes plans to insulate the UK's homes. They blocked roads around London as well as in Birmingham, Manchester and Dover - causing miles of tailbacks in rush hour. 

The nine eco-zealots were jailed over a protest on October 8 at Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire which saw a total of 16 people arrested - but dozens more activists are set to be issued with committal proceedings in the next few days.

The group and its supporters chanted 'We are unstoppable, another world is possible' as they were led to the cells through the dock by security officers at the court in London. 

Heyatawin and McKechnie were both jailed for three months while Buse, Paluch-Machnik, Rock, Smart, Speers and Thomas all received four-month sentences. 

The shorter jail term for Heyatawin was because of her medical issues, while McKechnie's was due to his younger age. The men will be at Category B Pentonville jail in Islington and the women at Category A Bronzefield in Surrey.  

Insulate Britain said the protesters were expected to serve at least half of their sentence. They had been facing a maximum penalty of two years in prison or an unlimited fine for contempt of court. 

The demonstrations have seen the campaigners glue themselves to the road before being removed by police. At least 174 activists have been involved on 19 days of protests so far and there have been 860 arrests. 

Group spokesman Tracey Mallaghan said after the case: 'The right thing to do is highlight injustice, breaking the law if needed. This is what the Suffragettes did and Martin Luther King did, and it is what Insulate Britain has done.'

It comes after Taylor told the court yesterday that if he was not in jail he would 'go and block the motorway at the earliest opportunity and will continue to do so until the Government makes a meaningful statement and acts on it'.

Taylor's submissions were described today by Dame Victoria Sharp as 'inflammatory' and a 'call to arms', and he was therefore given a longer sentence of six months 'to deter (him) from committing further breaches'. 

The judge, sitting with Mr Justice Chamberlain, said there was no alternative to jail sentences given the group's actions were so serious and they had made it clear they intended to further flout court orders. She said: 'The defendants, or some of them, seem to want to be martyrs for their cause and the media campaign surrounding this hearing appears designed to suggest this. We, however, have to act dispassionately and proportionately.' 

Before the group were sentenced, the National Highways barrister said the legal costs of bringing proceedings against the nine activists had reached £91,000. She argued the judges should make an order for the costs against the defendants and that, even if they are unable to pay them, such an order would be an 'important symbol'.

She also said the agency had a duty to attempt to recover the costs, as they are from public funds. But Dame Victoria Sharp said she and Mr Justice Chamberlain will give their decision on costs in writing at a later date. 

The nine activists said they did not have the funds to pay their share of the legal costs. Taylor said he has been volunteering for a couple of years and is currently claiming Universal Credit, which has recently been cut. He added: '£10,000 is a lot of money so unless there is a deadline, it will take a long time to pay off.'

Smart told the court she has been working as a volunteer in wildlife conservation and climate activism, and does not have any money. Addressing National Highways' legal team, she said: 'You are claiming more for postage than I have earned in the last three years. The fact you are profiting from our stand and trying to save the lives of ... people is obscene. Take what I have, come to my house and sell my clothes because that's all I have.'

Rock said he is a carpenter and was badly affected by the pandemic as he built theatre sets, while Speers said he was a full-time volunteer and claims Universal Credit. Speers added: 'I might be dead before I can pay these costs.'

A further 23 protesters have also defied one or more of several injunctions granted to Transport for London and National Highways over the past two months. And Insulate Britain said it expects these 23 people to be summoned in the coming days, which would bring the total to at least 32 people who are due to face contempt of court. 

Lawyers representing the Government said further committal proceedings will be issued against other Insulate Britain protesters and were expected to be brought by the end of the week, relating to protests on October 27. Evidence is also being gathered to bring proceedings in relation to protests on October 29 and November 2.

Raj Chada, solicitor at Hodge Jones and Allen law firm which supported the protesters, said: 'With these prison terms, the long and honourable tradition of civil disobedience is under attack again. Rather than leaving courts to imprison those that raise the alarm, it should be the Government that acts to protect us against the climate crisis.' 

The group has insisted it intends to continue with the protests until the Government agrees to insulate homes.

Dame Victoria told the court that police bodycam footage of the protest showed officers struggling to remove the demonstrators from the road.

The court heard the activists moved towards oncoming traffic before some successfully glued themselves on the road after being told to clear.

The judge said: 'The footage shows a somewhat chaotic scene with the defendants very close to traffic, and in some instances moving traffic, and the police attempting to restrain them from continuing with their protest and re-entering the road.'

Dame Victoria Sharp told the activists that it is 'integral' that orders made by the court 'must be obeyed'. She said: 'In our democratic society, all citizens are equal under the law and all are subject to the law.

'It is integral to the rule of law, and to the fair and peaceful resolution of disputes, first, that orders made by the court must be obeyed, unless and until they are set aside or subject to successful challenge on appeal, and secondly that a mechanism exists to enforce orders made by court against those who breach them.

'In this jurisdiction, that mechanism is provided by the law of contempt.' 

Insulate Britain activists were also told by the judge that ordinary members of the public 'have rights too'.

Dame Victoria Sharp told them: 'In a democratic society which recognises the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, protests causing some degree of inconvenience are to be expected and, up to a point, tolerated.

'But the words 'up to a point' are important. Ordinary members of the public have rights too, including the right to use the highways.

'The public's toleration of peaceful protest depends on an understanding that, in a society subject to the rule of law, the balance between the protesters' right to protest and the right of members of the public to use the highways is to be determined not by the say-so of the protesters, but according to the law.'

The judge also said the public has an 'interest in deterring disobedience to its orders and in upholding the rule of law'.

And Buse said in a statement: 'Care for the earth and all life requires me to act. My faith requires me to act, believing in the sacredness of creation and the demand for justice, justice for the trampled and exploited.

'Whilst acknowledging the importance of the courts, I have continued to break the injunction multiple times for we have a duty to the earth, to life, to future generations, to care and protect, this is the most important function of government, society and law.

'As we enter into the difficult years shifting to low carbon, and feeling the effects of climate change, we all need to be engaged in peaceful transformation; attempts to punish and crack down on peaceful protest opens the door to violent protest, which I deeply wish to avoid.'

Speers added: 'Never before has a civilisation had the burden and the privilege to see its own collapse coming.

'In this world, those trying to avert catastrophe are vilified and criminalised, and those profiting from death are protected and rewarded. We asked for a chance to live. That's all.

'We did so in the tradition of non-violent protest upon which this country was built. In response, the Government declared it would do 'everything we can to stop them'.'

'In an insane world, the sane will be seen as insane. And in a democracy steeped in lies and corruption, good people have a duty to disobey bad laws. 

'We did our duty and I await the day when a judge in a court of law is brave enough to do theirs.'

An Insulate Britain spokesman said today: 'This morning our Insulate

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