A climate activist in Reading has been fined £105 after pleading guilty to a public order offence at mass protests in London earlier this year.

Eloise Jones, 45, part of Extinction Rebellion (XR), said she felt she had no other choice but to join in the peaceful protest in April.

The Tilehurst-based climate campaigner appeared before the City of London Magistrates Court on Friday, October 4, along with dozens of others charged with the same offence.

She was found guilty of non-compliance with section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, which gives police the power to order protesters to confine their protest to a certain place, keep the numbers down, and tell protesters when to stop.

The activist is one of hundreds of people around the UK who were arrested for their part in April’s London shutdown.

The protests followed the United Nations (IPCC) report in October which concluded that we only have till 2030 to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees celsius and avoid a climate catastrophe.

Ms Jones said she was one of 60 people at City of London Magistrates’ for the same offence on Friday and her case was heard with five others.

She said the magistrate showed sympathy and noted each of them had no prior convictions and were of ‘good character’ and they “were not made to feel like criminals”.

Ms Jones said in her statement to the court: “I consider myself a law-abiding citizen and a good mother of school age children with serious cause for concern for their future.

“In my working life I am a conscientious public servant.  I work in the field of human rights and social justice and I advocate for the most vulnerable in our society.  These are issues which I care about deeply.

“The increasing damage to our natural world has been talked about for many years.  I have signed petitions, shared articles on social media and been involved with tree planting campaigns.”

Ms Jones attended an Extinction Rebellion talk in February, learning about the “present and immediate threat of societal collapse and mass starvation already happening to people across the global south as a direct result of climate change”.

The scale of the emergency “shocked” her but she was not prepared to accept it at face value, so dug deeper, focusing on peer-reviewed scientific papers where she saw “the same message”.

Ms Jones said taking a stand at the protests in April was an “extremely difficult choice” as she did not want to cause disruption and she acknowledges “it made some people’s lives difficult”.

But she felt it was “the only way to raise the alarm and get the message out there in this small window of time we have”.

She said the protests have already had an impact.

“Within a week of the protests a motion was put forward and parliament declared a climate and ecological emergency,” she said.

“The climate crisis has also been virtually a daily topic in the press since this time and I am proud of the part I played in helping this happen.”

Ms Jones has taken annual leave again this week to take part in the latest London protests, which started on Monday and she says around 150 other people from Reading will take part.

Reading Borough Council (RBC) declared a climate emergency in February 2019 following pressure from XR Reading.