The Fight Against Climate Change: In Defense of “Extinction Rebellion”
On July 31st, Jeff Feuer of the Mass Defense Committee appeared in the central Boston Municipal Court to represent 10 members of the climate change activist group, Extinction Rebellion. The activists were facing clerk-magistrate “show cause” hearings on charges of trespass and failure to disperse from a so-called “riot” stemming from a nonviolent demonstration in June, 2019 at a conference of natural gas distributors and pipeline operators at a downtown Boston hotel.
At the hearing, Attorney Feuer succeeded in getting the riot charge dismissed against all 10 activists. Eight of the defendants then accepted the disposition offered by the clerk-magistrate on the trespass charge, which was filing the application for the complaint for six months (and if they did not get arrested again within that time frame, the case would be automatically dismissed). The other two defendants rejected that offer and had a criminal complaint for trespass only issued against them with arraignment set for September 4, 2019, where Attorney Feuer will represent them.
by Jeff Feuer
