Eleven supporters of the environmental movement Climáximo will begin trial on April 22 for the blockade of Avenida Engenheiro Duarte Pacheco in December 2023, the movement announced today.
Climáximo activist Matilde Alvim told Lusa that the trial will take place at the Campus de Justiça on April 22, 23 and 24 and that “solidarity and resistance activities” are being organized throughout the three days.
The 11 activists on trial, aged between 20 and 58, are accused of “civil disobedience” and “disruption of communications” and, if convicted, risk sentences of more than a year in prison.
“A few days before the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, 11 Climáximo supporters will be tried in court for the political protest to block Avenida Eng. Duarte Pacheco, in Lisbon, which took place in December 2023. The trial will last three days and has dozens of witnesses, as well as a solidarity programme that promises to involve and organize the next steps of the climate justice movement – the “Assemblies of April”, according to information released by Climáximo.
According to the movement, “the 11 people will be judged for having fought for life” on the planet.
“We cannot normalize the extreme violence that is the climate crisis. The drought in the Algarve, the millions of people currently displaced, and the thousands of deaths due to the climate crisis. We know that governments and companies are continuing their plans of destruction. Delegating responsibility for stopping the climate crisis to them is like waiting for the dictator to put an end to the dictatorship,” says the movement.
The program of actions in defense of the climate includes debates on Climáximo’s “Disarmament and Peace Plans”, lectures and open assemblies to “build the movement’s next steps”.