A Just Stop Oil protester who sprayed Scotland Yard's revolving sign with orange paint has been cleared of criminal damage after her barrister likened her to American civil rights campaigner Rosa Parks.
Lora Johnson used a paint-filled fire extinguisher to cover the sign during a series of coordinated actions by environmental campaigners in Oct 2022. The 39-year-old from Southwold in Suffolk stood trial at Southwark Crown Court, where she was cleared of criminal damage.
Ms Johnson claimed she did not think the sign, which is positioned outside in all weathers, would be seriously damaged as the paint was water soluble. Jurors were told the orange paint was water soluble and had been cleaned with a "simple jet wash and soap and water".
In his closing speech, her barrister Owen Greenhall likened her actions to that of the Suffragettes and Rosa Parks. He said: "It is important that you don't think of direct action as something that is outside of democracy. Direct action and civil disobedience is a part of democracy.
"The Suffragettes are a clear example. It is well known that they used direct action. They broke all the windows on Oxford Street. They burned down buildings.
"Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, they all used civil disobedience. That change didn't happen without direct action.
"While you might not like direct action, it is not something that you can simply dismiss."
The court heard that Ms Johnson had been interested in environmental issues since childhood but that her passion had been rekindled by the Extinction Rebellion movement in 2019.
Addressing the court in her defence, Ms Johnson said: "If we don't act, life on earth will go extinct."
Following the decision, Ms Johnson said: "The action I took was painting the New Scotland Yard sign orange in resistance to the government's genocidal approval of new oil and gas licences."
She was acquitted following a six-day trial.
