Peaceful protest director at Regal

THE director of a film about how the right to peaceful protest is in peril is coming to the Regal Picturehouse in Henley on Sunday.

Following the screening of The Line We Crossed (15) at 7pm (tickets £10), Liz Smith will take part in a question and answer session hosted by Giles Trendle, trustee of Greener Henley. Also present will be Trudi Warner, a retired social worker who was prosecuted for contempt of court.

Liz, 52, who lives in London, says: “These anti-protest laws are terrifying and we have a Labour government. Labour came out of protests. What happens if we end up with a far-right government in place?

“I started off looking at polarisation and how it intersects with the climate crisis. Then I found out that a lot of people were going through trials at the Inner London Crown Court. It was Insulate Britain, who had sat on the motorways. They were told by the judge that they couldn’t explain why they’d sat in the road to the jury. I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ I always thought we had the right to tell the truth in court.

“Then Trudi Warner got arrested outside the court for silently holding a placard telling the truth, which says that jurors have the right to acquit someone on their conscience.

“I also started following Just Stop Oil when they went out on their slow marching campaigns and started getting arrested and put in prison.

“The new Public Order Act came in while I was filming. It is hugely timely, the situation has got even worse, with now 2,000 people arrested for silent placard-holding.

“Trudi is an extraordinary woman. Defend Our Juries came out of that and thousands of people started sitting outside courts with the same sign. I call them human billboards, that silent protest is very peaceful.”

Liz has made a short postscript, Requiem for Protest, visit www.you tube.com/watch?v=v 3xfy3SO8IY