Currently — October 16, 2023: The global criminalization of climate protests

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Climate activists are no strangers to facing arrest and criminal charges for climate protests. Just last month, over 100 climate activists were arrested in New York City.

However, a “crackdown” on climate protests in Europe is raising alarm bells for human rights experts. The crackdown extends past Europe, Inside Climate News reports that the criminalization of climate protests is, “an increasingly global trend.”

In an interview with On the Media, climate reporter Amy Westervelt discusses how the Atlas Network, a collective of right-leaning think tanks, has worked to reframe climate protests as extremist and dangerous. This, in part, has led to an uptick in the criminalization of climate protests.

Westervelt covers this topic extensively alongside climate journalist Geoff Dembicki in “The Real Free Speech Threat” an investigative series on her podcast, Drilled.

— Abbie Veitch

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