Climate Justice Action, an international coalition of grass-roots organisations, representing the voices of those marginalised from the UN process (indigenous rights activists, farmers movements and environmentalists) reports illegal, “preventive”arrests in Copenhagen.
According to Kamille Hjuler, representing the network: “There is more and more willingness to trample over people’s civil liberties in order to stop
the mass civil disobedience that will take place at the summit on Wednesday. These are yet more attempts by the UN to silence any criticisms of the COP process, whether from inside or outside.”
Dr. Tadzio Mueller (1) was arrested by three undercover policemen at around 15.10 just a few minutes after leaving the Bella Centre where he had helped in a press conference presenting Climate Justice Action’s protests for Wednesday.
At 16.45 Danish police raided a bicycle workshop being used by demonstrators to prepare bicycle constructions to be used as part of working alternatives to fossil fuel culture in Wednesday’s demonstrations.
At 18.00 a further 36 people were arrested at the Klimaforum, the alternative summit taking place in central Copenhagen, while protesting against the seizure by police of the vegetable oil they were planning to use for their zero-carbon vehicles.
Simultaneously, about 15,000 delegates, journalists and civil society representatives have effectively been locked out of the summit by being refused accreditation or their applications being delayed up to 8 hours.
Many of these delegates will be joining the demonstrations against the COP process tomorrow, alongside Climate Justice Action.
Climate Justice Action describes the escalation of the attempts to criminalise and harass activists from the group as “desperate and self-interested” tactics of the Danish police.
(1) Dr Tadzio Mueller, resident of Berlin, is an accredited NGO observer, academic, author and climate justice activist, who recently
edited the book ‘Contours of Climate Justice’ and is also a co-editor of ‘Turbulence’ magazine.
