A YOUNG woman who was arrested for allegedly organising a Just Stop Oil protest which halted traffic in a major Scottish city has said the police have effectively stripped her of her right to protest.
Jennifer Kowalski was involved in a demonstration by the radical environmentalist group in Glasgow on Sunday was tracked down to her flat the following day.
She was arrested and charged with failing to notify police of the protest, which halted traffic along busy shopping streets in the city as the demonstration travelled across Glasgow.
Police tracked Kowalski (above) down to her Southside flat and arrested her the following day. She believes the police had her address on file because she was one of 31 people arrested following a blockade at Rothesay Dock, Clydebank which lasted three days.
She said her bail conditions bar her from attending or organising any protests until her case is heard on July 22 – meaning she had the fundamental right of protest taken away from her.
The 26-year-old described her arrest, which saw her taken to Govan police station in her nightdress, as “unnerving and scary”.
Kowalski, originally from Paisley, denies organising the protest (below) but said as a steward she was instructing demonstrators to sit down at various points to block traffic.
She told The National: “On Monday, they showed up at my flat and arrested me.
“It was pretty unnerving because I just wasn’t expecting it at all. To be told you’re being arrested , it’s quite scary.
“When you go to the actions we do, you do prepare for that – you don’t ever prepare to be taken out of your home like that.
“I wasn’t given the chance to get changed into something that I would have felt more comfortable in. It was a nightie, essentially.
“It was all quite unnerving and uncomfortable.”
Because her release from police custody relies on her staying away from protests, she has said her rights are being violated.
She added: “One of the conditions of my release from the police station was that I am not to participate in, organise or go to any other protests between now and the court date.
“Basically my right to protest has been taken away from me now.”
Kowalski has given up her career for radical protest and is currently unemployed after dedicating herself to activism full-time.
A former biology student, she claimed she was fired from a job in environmental sciences after she “called out” the firm for its lack of action on tackling the climate emergency and claimed the experience radicalised her politics.
She said the firm she worked for was more interested in “making money” than tackling climate change and said she felt compelled to stand up to bosses.
“It is a lot of sacrifice and it’s not been easy,” she said.
“I’ve always really valued financial security. It was so hard to lose my job, it was so hard taking the risks and putting myself in these positions.
“It’s terrifying to do these things but I’m just so much more scared about the climate crisis.”
A spokesperson for Police Scotland said: "A 26-year-old woman has been arrested and charged in connection with a protest march which took place in Glasgow on Sunday, May 8, 2022. She will be reported to the Procurator Fiscal.”
