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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Matthew Taylor

Record number of protesters will be in UK prisons this Christmas

A protester raises a banner reading 'Just Stop Oil' on top of an electronic traffic sign on the M25
A Just Stop Oil protester on the M25 in 2022. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

A record number of people who have taken part in protests will be in prison in the UK this Christmas, raising concern about the ongoing crackdown on dissent.

Forty people, aged from 22 to 58, will be behind bars on Christmas Day for planning or taking part in a variety of protests relating to the climate crisis or the war in Gaza. Several of them are facing years in prison after courts handed down the most severe sentences on record for direct action protests.

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