By Ruth Jarman, Administration Officer and Co-Founder of Operation Noah 

Do you ever sit, perhaps acknowledging the presence of God, and try to see our civilization as God sees it, as future generations might see it, as those suffering and dying from climate impacts now might see it? If you do, then perhaps you see what I see – that we live in a madly upside-down world. 

Look how it is completely within the law to dig up and burn fossil fuels, an activity that we know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, will kill people. Humanity faces collapse of our civilization, our ecosystems and our ability to feed ourselves if we do not stop doing this, but somehow it is the continuation of business-as-usual that has the highest legal protections, rather than the preservation of life on earth. 

Laws on protest have in the last few years been tightened, so that now police can break down a door and arrest people simply meeting to talk about a potentially disruptive protest, even when that disruption might help us wake up to the need to change our suicidal course.

This is the reason that 20 police officers broke into the Westminster Quaker Meeting House on 27 March and arrested six young people who had peacefully gathered for a publicly advertised meeting to talk about how to respond to the climate and Gaza crises.

Operation Noah has always supported the principle of the right to peacefully protest and are shocked that the police forced entry into a place of worship.

Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, stated: ‘This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group clearly shows what happens when a society criminalises protest’.

Churches Together in England (CTE) General Secretary Bishop Mike Royal has written an open letter to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner requesting a review and a meeting to prevent such an incident happening again.

Just a week after the raid, I was proud to be amongst the 500 plus people who joined the Meeting for Worship on the pavement outside New Scotland Yard to protest the action of the Metropolitan Police. It was a beautiful thing to sit on the pavement in silent protest with so many others of all faiths and none, united in hope for a right-way-up world where the power of the law is used for the good of young people and for all of creation.

Read about the Meeting for Worship here, where you will also find information about how to write to your MP about the raid and register your concern.