Archived press release

Climate change activist prevented from travelling to Copenhagen

14 October 2009

Commenting on reports that UK border police have used anti-terrorist legislation to stop a British climate change activist from travelling to Copenhagen to protest at events surrounding the UN climate talks, Friends of the Earth's Head of Climate Mike Childs said:

"It's outrageous to stop someone from travelling to Copenhagen to protest on climate change.

"Climate change is a global crisis that will have catastrophic consequences unless world leaders take drastic action to tackle it, so it's not surprising people want their voices to be heard.

"The police should be supporting people's right to protest peacefully. One of the most effective ways to campaign is to unite as many voices as possible at the same time and this is exactly what Friends of the Earth will be doing in Copenhagen in the coming weeks."

Notes to editors

1. On 5 December Friends of the Earth will take part in 'The Wave'; a march in London organised by the Stop Climate Chaos coalition. This protest will bring together a huge range of organisations to demand that the UK Government works to cut emissions fairly and quickly and in a way that protects the poorest from the effects of climate change. It will see tens of thousands marching through the streets and encircling the Houses of Parliament. http://www.stopclimatechaos.org/the-wave

2. On 12 December Friends of the Earth International will lead 'The Flood'; a march that will see thousands of people from all over the world filling the streets of Copenhagen in a powerful demonstration of the international community's demand for a strong and fair new agreement on climate at the COP 15. http://www.foe.co.uk/community/news/flood_20971.html

3. Through its Demand Climate Change campaign Friends of the Earth is demanding:

• that world leaders stop promoting carbon offsetting - a con which means avoiding real action at home through dodgy accounting - and reduce emissions in rich countries by at least 40% by 2020 domestically

• that rich countries fulfil their legal and moral responsibility to lead by cutting emissions first and fast, and providing new money to ensure developing countries can grow cleanly and adapt to the effects of climate change that are already putting millions of lives at risk

• that proposals to allow rich countries to buy chunks of forest whilst continuing to pump out emissions firmly are kept firmly off the table - they won't solve climate change or halt deforestation, but will trigger a land grab leaving millions of people worse off.

Friends of the Earth is calling on the public to sign its international petition to world leaders at www.demandclimatechange.org.

4. Friends of the Earth rallied enormous support from campaigning organisations all over the world when we built a dyke outside UN climate talks in The Hague in 2000. See http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/news/hague_talks_nov_2000_index.html

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust