Climate change protester faces jail at London rally today
Posted by Ben
Tamsin Omond, a 23 year old Cambridge graduate, and a candidate for the priesthood could exchange her chaotic but comfortable north London flat for a single room provided at Her Majesty’s pleasure, via an examination hall and a high-profile Westminster climate change demonstration attended by the likes of Baroness Tonge and Rosie Boycott. ‘I don’t want to go to jail. I don’t want to break the law,’ Tamsin told the Observer. ‘The idea of going to prison makes me sick and nervous. It’s very definitely not part of my life plan and I absolutely don’t want it to happen. But if that’s the price of protest, I find myself in a very difficult position.’ Omond is the founder of Climate Rush, the group behind today’s demonstration in Parliament Square that will call for an end to airport expansion and tougher measures to control carbon dioxide emissions. It is a case in which she passionately believes and Omond says that ‘global warming experts agree that we have 100 months to avoid disaster’ . Last February she was one of the so-called ‘Commons Five’ whose faces flashed across news programmes throughout the world when they scaled the Houses of Parliament to protest against a third runway at Heathrow. The group stayed on the roof for three hours: a period carefully timed to coincide with Gordon Brown’s arrival for Prime Minister’s questions, during which at least one MP was to ask questions about the anti-aviation debate. Brown cancelled at the last minute - Omond is not sure whether his non-appearance was linked to the protest - and the group descended from the rooftops to be met by police who arrested them on charges of trespass. The group were kept in custody for 12 hours before being released on bail to await their trial on 11 November, at which they could receive a maximum penalty of 51 weeks’ custody and a £5,000 fine - but bail conditions for that offence mean that if goes into the Houses of Parliament she breaks the law again (today!) she will undoubtedly be held on remand for the earlier offence. This afternoon Tamsin could face a uncertain future as a result of her personal committment to fight climate change.
The full story can be seen at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/12/activists-climatechange