Our Civil Liberties Under Attack

When Protest Becomes Prison: How Courts, Injunctions and New Laws Put 286 Activists Behind Bars Since 2019

What this dataset ultimately exposes is not just a shift in protest policing, but a deeper erosion of civil liberties. When remand becomes routine, when injunctions bypass open justice, and when new offences expand the boundaries of criminalisation, the right to dissent becomes narrower, more conditional, and easier to suppress. Civil‑liberties groups warn that once these powers are normalised, they rarely retreat; they become part of the everyday architecture of state response to public dissent.

A major new dataset co‑published by Queen Mary University of London and Defend Our Juries documents 286 cases of people gaoled for climate or Palestine‑solidarity protest since 2019, totalling 136 years of custodial time and an average detention of 28 weeks in the 256 cases with full data. Researchers say the courts’ growing use of remand, contempt of court and civil injunctions, alongside new protest offences in the Public Order Act 2023, are reshaping how non‑violent dissent is punished in Britain.

Why this matters

These figures mark a shift from short, symbolic penalties for civil disobedience toward prolonged pre‑trial custody and longer sentences. The report finds one in three gaoled for six months or more and one in five for over a year; in 60% of cases the final sentence was more lenient than time already spent on remand, suggesting remand is functioning as punishment before conviction.

The legal mechanisms driving imprisonment

Remand detention. Courts have remanded many protest defendants for months; long pre‑trial custody can exceed statutory expectations and effectively become the principal punishment. The report highlights particularly long remands for Palestine‑solidarity defendants.

Civil injunctions and contempt. Corporations and public bodies increasingly obtain injunctions against “persons unknown” or named activists; breaches are enforced by contempt proceedings that can carry immediate committal to prison. The QMUL dataset records contempt as the most common route to imprisonment.

New criminal offences (Public Order Act 2023). The Act creates offences such as “locking‑on”, tunnelling and interference with key national infrastructure, and expands police powers — all of which raise the risk of criminalisation for tactics long used in direct action. Legal charities warn these changes broaden the scope for prosecution.

Conspiracy and public nuisance charges. Prosecutors have used conspiracy and public nuisance to pursue organisers and planners; these charges carry higher maximum sentences and can be applied even where direct physical harm is absent

Human impact (illustrative snapshots)

Christmas 2024 snapshot: A record 40 activists — aged 22–58 — were in prison over Christmas for climate or Gaza‑related actions, underscoring how many protestors can be detained simultaneously.

Remand hunger strikes and health concerns: Extended remands in high‑profile Palestine‑related cases prompted hunger strikes and UN concern about detention conditions.

⚖️ Civil liberties under strain — and why women are so often the ones holding the line

The pattern emerging from the dataset is not only about protest — it is about civil liberties. Long remands, sweeping injunctions and new offences expand the state’s ability to restrict movement, association and expression. Legal observers warn that these tools, once normalised, rarely remain confined to one political moment. They become part of the everyday machinery of public‑order policing. That is why civil‑liberties groups argue the current trajectory should concern anyone who values the right to dissent, regardless of their stance on climate or Palestine‑solidarity campaigns.

A striking feature of this period is the visibility of women supporting those in prison — partners, mothers, sisters, friends, and fellow activists who keep cases in the public eye. Researchers and advocacy groups note several reasons for this:

• Care labour — Women disproportionately shoulder the emotional, logistical and community work around imprisoned activists: organising visits, fundraising, coordinating legal updates, and sustaining morale.

• Movement continuity — Women often act as the connective tissue of campaigns, ensuring that imprisonment does not sever people from their communities or silence their causes.

• Moral framing — Public support from women frequently reframes these cases not as security issues but as human storeys about fairness, proportionality and the right to speak out.

• Historical pattern — From Greenham Common to anti‑apartheid campaigns, women have long played central roles in defending civil liberties when the state expands punitive powers.

Their presence underscores a simple truth: when civil liberties contract, it is often women who step forward to defend the people caught in the system.

A new report analysing the imprisonment of protestors in Britain