Environ\u00admental activists are increasingly facing hostility across Europe, a UN expert said, warning that the very right to protest was \u201cat risk\u201d in countries usually considered beacons of democracy. Michel Forst, the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders, said that he was deeply troubled by the hardening tone against climate activists in countries including France, Austria, Germany and Britain. Government ministers have been throwing about terms like \u201ceco terrorists\u201d and \u201cGreen Talibans\u201d to describe non-violent activists, he claimed, also blaming some media reporting for contributing to an increasingly hostile public attitude. \u201cIt creates a sort of chilling effect,\u201d warned Forst, an independent expert appointed under the UN\u2019s Aarhus Convention \u2014 a legally-binding text that provides for justice in environmental matters. \u201cCurrently, the right to protest is at risk in Europe.\u201d Forst said he had recently visited several European countries after receiving complaints that activists faced treatment that allegedly violated the convention and international human rights law. Following a visit to Britain, he publicly voiced alarm at the \u201ctoxic discourse\u201d and \u201cincreasingly severe crackdown\u201d on environmental defenders. Forst charged that \u201cregressive laws\u201d in Britain were being used to slap climate activists with harsh penalties, with one activist sent to prison for six months for a 30-minute slow march disrupting traffic. Another activist had been sentenced to 27 months behind bars in the UK, he said. He also decried harsh sentences in other countries, including Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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