"What are the circumstances in which it is right to smash up a building? When might one justifiably destroy an artwork? And what are the conditions under which one might splinter someone’s spine with a sledgehammer?
Many on the left seem to have satisfied themselves on all these questions. But I wonder if they have even begun to reckon with the consequences.
Back in 2019 a group of activists from Extinction Rebellion took their views on fossil fuels to Belvedere Road in central London. There, at the site of the Shell building, they smashed windows, spray-painted walls and caused other criminal damage. At their subsequent trial at Southwark Crown Court, the judge instructed the jury that the accused had no defence in law. The jury acquitted them anyway, having apparently decided it is permissible to smash a building up . . ." More behind a pay wall.
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