23 December 2009 - Copenhagen,
Denmark — Our four activists who grabbed
global media attention last week after being
waved through the security cordon and allowed
to gatecrash the Heads of State dinner at
the Copenhagen climate summit will be spending
Christmas and New Year in jail without trial,
the Danish High Court has ruled.
They gave up their freedom
to get a message out calling for action
against climate. Don't let in be in vain.
Please support our new campaign to keep
the pressure on world leaders for a real
climate deal in 2010.
Three of the Heroes
from Norway, Spain and Switzerland were
arrested after entering the banquet for
world leaders, hosted by the Danish Queen
Margrethe II. Two of them were dressed as
a 'Head of State' and his 'wife', the third
their security detail. They held up banners
that read "Politicians Talk, Leaders
Act" and were led away by police. Danish
police later pulled in a fourth activist.
While real world leaders
came to the summit, ate cake, and departed
with an empty political agreement that leaves
the future of the planet and millions of
lives in peril, our four activists will
be held in police custody without bail or
trial until January 7th.
Non-violent, creative
action
"Greenpeace's Climate Heroes were willing
to risk their freedom for a cause,"
said Mats Christensen, Executive Director
of Greanpeace Nordic. "Preventing them
from spending the festive season with their
families and loved ones is effectively a
punishment without trial and has the appearance
of a vindictive act. It is unnecessary and
totally out of proportion to what they did",
said Christensen.
Condemning the High
Court's decision as a further "climate
injustice" on top of the colossal political
failure at the summit, we're is calling
on the public to help step up pressure for
the activists' release.
Despite the High Court's
ruling, their freedom remains at the discretion
of Denmark's Chief of Police.
Using only simple props,
creativity and a little "audacity of
hope" the activists arrived ahead of
Hillary Clinton, carrying out an entirely
peaceful call for action. Their message
helped give voice to the hundreds of millions
of people who rarely get the ear of politicians,
even as their lives and ecosystems are progressively
destroyed as politicians waffle.
The Real Crime
This historic climate summit which people
around the world have been anticipating
for the last year resulted in what is called
the 'Copenhagen Accord' - an empty document
containing no legally binding commitments
for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Mads Christensen summed
up the situation: "Over the past 20
years, our leaders have done virtually nothing
to combat climate change. The Copenhagen
climate summit was the moment for decisive
action. But our leaders failed us. They
failed to agree a legally binding treaty
to prevent the Earth from warming beyond
the crucial threshold of 2 degrees C above
pre-industrial levels. Beyond this, we can
expect impacts to severely affect the survival
and wellbeing of millions of people and
countless species. Failure to take action
to protect the climate is not an option."
