Massive repression across Europe this month

There has been massive police repression across Europe this month. In the UK, Palestine Action was banned and four activists were sentenced to a total of 25 years in prison. Moreover, in Belgium, the police raided activists’ houses. In this newsletter, you’ll find more information on this, as well as on why it is important to support independent journalism in the fight against police repression. It also offers resources on what to do if you are arrested with your phone. 

NB: We know this is only a small selection, if you have any news, solidarity call out or resource you want us to include in the next bulletin – don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] 

NEWS & COURT CASES

International: Greenpeace International’s landmark anti-SLAPP lawsuit took a major step forward this month when the Amsterdam District Court rejected Energy Transfer’s latest attempt to avoid accountability for its unlawful actions, including back-to-back abusive lawsuits filed in the US. Read more

UK

• On 12 June, Judge Mr Justice Johnson ruled that Direct Action activists would be sentenced as having a ‘terrorist connection’ following their convictions for criminal damage arising from their involvement in direct action at the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol. Read more

Charlotte Head – 6 years, Leona Kamio – 6 years, Fatema Zainab – 5 years and 8 months, Samuel Corner – 8 years and 8 months 

• On June 15, the Court of Appeal in London upheld the United Kingdom government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group. This damaging ruling, which overturns an earlier High Court decision against the government, will likely further inhibit the right to protest in the UK and globally. Read more

France

• Sainte-Soline 

Remember March 25th, 2023, the day of the Sainte-Soline demonstration against “mega-basins” and water-grabbing in France?

Last year, hours of police body camera footage were leaked by journalists, revealing in sound and image what happened in 2023 in Sainte-Soline, when a protest of 30 000 people against water grabbing and industrial agriculture turned into what was described as a “war zone” for several hours with  police abusively using  their military-grade weapons against the demonstrators to protect nothing but a big, empty hole where water was to be gathered for industrial corn agriculture. 

And in 2025, the leaked videos finally showed the intent of the police violence, how systematic, purposeful and unlawful it was. But in 2026, the court in charge of Serge’s case claimed nothing could be done, because it was impossible to identify the shooter.

A couple of weeks ago, journalists from Mediapart and Libération announced that, after 3 months of hard work on the leaked videos, they were in capacity to name who had illegally shot Serge with a “tir tendu” (grenade shot at an illegal angle).

Given that the internal investigative body of the police administration had claimed in 2025 that they had never had knowledge of what the body cameras of their police forces had filmed, there is maybe little hope that this new work will lead to consequences – but this shows us, if nothing else, how important journalism can be in the fight for a better world.

• News from the A69 struggle

The fight against the construction of the A69 highway close to Toulouse has been lost for good in French courts as well a couple of days ago. Beyond this project itself, the reasons quoted by the French Council of State are setting a worrying precedent, specifying that the project could go ahead as it meets four objectives, namely reducing the time of travel between two cities, improving local inhabitants’ life quality, increasing road safety and supporting the development of the Castres city area. 

Beyond the disagreement on the fact that this highway will deliver (or not, and at which cost) on the four objectives mentioned above, here is the worrying part: 

• these four arguments are extremely vague, and could set a precedent to justify a wider recourse to the Raison Impérative d’Intérêt Public Majeur (RIIPM), a way to bypass all environmental protection measures in construction projects, in the name of major public interest, another very vaguely defined term.

The case is now being taken to the European Union court of justice, a last resort after all national options have been made use of.

Belgium: In various Belgian cities, on June 10th, 19 people’s homes were raided by the police and 15 people were taken into custody. The police broke their doors open at 5am, seized their notes, laptops, phones, along with the ones of their partners and/or housemates. 2 people got put in detention by a judge, and 2 got an electronic tag put on them. The public prosecutor’s department of the court in charge of the case has confirmed that the operation and detentions are in connection with two distinct actions carried out by the climate justice group Code Rouge in 2025, namely an action against agro-business giant Cargill and another one against steel producer (and exporter to Israel) Arcelor Mittal. 

Netherlands: Last week, XRNL sent a letter to the Dutch police and the Ministry of Justice, urging them to start wearing identification numbers or similar insignia during protests. They gave them a month to respond; otherwise, they will initiate legal proceedings. You can find more information about this in this post. 

SOLIDARITY AND CROWDFUNDING 

URGENT send your letters of support to Filton 4. In two weeks the Filton 4 will be cut off from public contact due to terrorism connected prisoner rules. Take a picture or scan of your letter and email it to [email protected] so one of their approved contacts can read it to them over the phone in the unfortunate event it doesn’t reach them. They need your support now more than ever. More info

RESOURCES & EVENTS

• From the Digital Self Defense Collective, comes  a practical resource about what to do if you get arrested with your phone. 
• Barricade numérique: a new resource website on anti-repression with a ton of very practical tips and procedures to protect yourself and your collective (in French only, here)

About Legally Green

Since autumn of 2022, the Movement Hub coordinates Legally Green – an informal network of lawyers who support activists across Europe and activist-led legal support groups. The network has over 100 members from over 60 organizations in more than 20 countries in Europe.

The network operates via mailing list and meets bi-monthly to share experience, discuss cases, trends, get help, learn from each other to increase our collective capacities to resist legal repressions. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions, or wish to join the network.