Dan Hillier, 48, artist from London
Dan was arrested on Waterloo Bridge during the 2019 April Rebellion. He pleaded guilty in January 2020 to breaching Section 14 of the Public Order Act. The judge at City of London Magistrates’ Court gave him a six month conditional discharge and ordered him to pay £105 court costs.
“I joined XR’s actions because it seemed the most effective and engaging way to bring the most important subject of our day to the forefront of the nation’s mind, with a shared vision of hope and love for the planet and all its inhabitants.
Everybody knows we’re smashing up our miraculous natural world and wrecking the biosphere that is our life support, and everybody knows that we don’t have much time to come into right relationship with it. Our leadership is looking the other way as the devastation escalates, no matter what they say about aiming to tackle these very real problems.
We talk about nature like it’s something apart from us, but it is us, and we are it. We’re all involved, we’re all a part of the problem, and we’re all a part of the solution. We all feel the grief of what’s happening on one level or another, at the severe loss of the profound beauty, the perfectly balanced ecosystems, and the biosphere that is our life, that we are a part of.
I pleaded guilty by law, but I feel far from guilty and stand by my peaceful actions, which were guided by love, hope and togetherness.
Photo credit: Helena Smith