Fears have been raised a group of Extinction Rebellion activists who occupied an oil rig at the Port of Dundee would cause further trouble at the imminent UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.
Police, coastguard and Forth Ports incurred £30,000 worth of costs as a result of the protestors’ actions on the 300ft platform of the Valaris rig in January 2020.
The Extinction Rebellion activists were trying to stop the rig leaving to carry out work for Shell in the North Sea.
Dundee Sheriff Court heard how some of them told social workers they had planned to strap themselves to the rig for a week.
Federico Pastoris, 25, Mark Quinn, 23, 24-year-old Marco Tenconi, Guy Bowen, 32, 28-year-old Alison Orr, Joanne Venables, 36, and Fiona Cormie, 27, previously pled guilty to committing a breach of the peace.
Sentence was further deferred after a sheriff raised concerns they would become involved with protests at the international climate change conference, known as COP26, in November.
Sheriff Grant McCulloch said: “January is hardly the suitable month for undertaking this sort of activity and it was quite frankly a nonsense that some of you considered attaching yourself to this oil rig for a week.
“I do understand your views on the climate but activity such as this does your case no credit.
“In November there’s an international climate conference in Glasgow and my concern is that you will use COP26 as another opportunity for action.
“In my view that would be inappropriate.
“I intend to defer sentence until a date sometime after COP26 has taken place and require you all to be of good behaviour.”
Solicitor Jim Brady, representing all apart from Bowen, said his clients believed they had been let down by the Scottish and UK Governments on climate issues.
“Their intent was very serious and in no way frivolous.
“They took very substantial measures for their own safety and the safety of others.
“There was alarm caused to the workers on the rig by the fact their boat started to take in water.
“They had tried to represent their position to members of the government.
“They have a real and moral concern. I find myself becoming angry that in some way, these young people have been let down by the authorities.”
Mr Brady said none of his clients, or Bowen, had any intention of participating in Extinction Rebellion protests again.
He said some would be attending “ancillary” events in Glasgow connected to COP26.
The court was previously told how the deputy port manager became aware of the activists using an inflatable boat to access the rig.
Fiscal depute Emily Hood said: “He witnessed all of the accused there and struggling to stand on the boat.
“Given the harsh conditions of the weather, he was concerned for their safety and the Coastguard was contacted.
“A short time later, Cormie, Venables and Orr gained access and climbed the leg of the rig.”
The boat carrying the rest of the activists returned to shore and they were arrested by police.
Cormie, Venables and Orr climbed up to the 300ft-high platform and remained there for around four hours.
Deteriorating weather caused them to descend and they were later arrested.
Pastoris and Tenconi, both of Edinburgh; Quinn, of Aberdeen; Bowen, of Horsted Keynes, West Sussex; Orr, of Dundee; Venables, of Edinburgh; and Cormie, of Nairn, previously pled guilty to committing a breach of the peace.
They admitted conducting themselves in a disorderly manner on January 6 2020 by navigating the River Tay on an inflatable boat when it was unsafe, boarding or assisting others to board a platform without authority, refusing to leave, attaching themselves to a platform several hundred feet in the air, remaining there for a number of hours, placing themselves in danger and causing disruption and inconvenience to other harbour users.
Sentence was deferred until December for them to be of good behaviour.
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