BBQ Fundraiser for Earth Day
- Date
- Sunday 27th April 2025
- Doors
- 12:00 - 16:00
- Members + Guests
- Benefit For
- Cole, a climate and Palestine protester suffering extreme financial hardship due to strict bail conditions arising from protest.
- Members and Guests
- 12LRSC Members and Guests welcome
In May 2024 Cole and another comrade locked onto the road outside L3Harris and shut the factory down for one day, disrupting the arms supply chain from the UK to Israel’s genocide. Both comrades had charges dropped against them in March 2025
After allegedly causing damage to two billionaire bankers’ private jets Cole was sent to prison in June 2024 and was, we believe, the youngest person imprisoned for protest at that time. Cole was released in July and placed under 9 bail conditions including a 12 hour 7pm-7am curfew in their house that is surveilled by an ankle tag and is not even allowed access to their garden during this time.
Cole has been wrongfully arrested multiple times during random nights after leaving the house once under curfew due a hospital emergency, despite informing the police beforehand. Since then they have been rearrested 3 times with the police back office claiming they broke curfew only for a judge to rule that Cole was not in the house because they were taken from the property by the police.
Cole lost their job after release from prison and has struggled with their mental and physical health since, including struggling to find employment. The rearrests and curfew makes it harder as they don’t know when the police may suddenly arrive in the night and detain them for a day.
Cole struggles with chronic back pain and so cannot stand for long periods of time, walk or pick things up and so cannot do jobs that require manual labour. The 12 hour curfew means the work that Cole can do is limited. They cannot travel due to the curfew and being required to sign in at the police station multiple days a week which takes an hour at a time.
There was a gas leak in their house in March and Cole applied to have an alternative address listed for their tag in case of emergencies - their boyfriend's Dad's house.
On April 4th their bail address was changed by a judge solely to their boyfriend's Dad's house in Leicestershire and not Brighton. Cole had to immediately travel there from court, despite not knowing anyone who lived there and having none of their belongings.
Last Friday was the first time they had ever been to that address because it was meant to be for emergencies.
Cole is continuing to look for employment which will accommodate them, as if they don't they will likely be forced to return to prison if they can't make rent. Your support with the cost of living will give them more time to prevent this and help pay for Cole's train tickets to travel home to Brighton to the house they are paying rent for and for physiotherapy, in the few days between the days Cole needs to sign in back in Leicestershire.
The trial for their climate action starts in September.