Insulate Britain mob stage 24 hour ‘fast’ outside Downing Street in protest hunger strike activist

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Insulate Britain are holding a 24-hour fast outside Downing Street in solidarity with a fellow jailed protester who has been moved to a hospital wing after going on a hunger strike.

The eco-activists say prison staff at HMP Bronzefield, Surrey, have become ‘increasingly concerned’ about the health of Emma Smart. 

Ms Smart, 44, a biologist from Weymouth, has refused food for the past 14 days since being jailed for her part in Insulate Britain’s road-blocking protests.

Today a handful of supporters gathered at No 10 to start a 24-hour fast, not blocking the road as in previous demonstrations that have outraged motorists.

A spokesperson said: ‘Supporters of Insulate Britain will be doing a 24-hour fast outside 10 Downing Street, with Emma, in solidarity with people who will have to make the choice whether to heat or eat in Britain this winter. 

‘This is the only option now available to her in prison, to highlight the cowardice of in refusing to support the most vulnerable.’

Her husband, Andy Smith, 45, from Dorset, was among protesters and said: ‘She spoke to her mum and dad this morning and she’s still in good spirits and she’s doing OK.’

But he doubted her vow to stop eating until the Government moves to insulate homes would get much of a response from Boris Johnson.

He added: ‘He can barely string a coherent sentence together about Peppa Pig, let alone make a meaningful statement regarding saving the lives of 8,500 elderly vulnerable people every year.

 ‘It may be cold and it might be wet, but I will be here for 24 hours.

‘They may try and remove us.

‘We’ve had one person arrested already this morning; I believe they were breaking bail conditions.’

It comes as the group yesterday released a statement on behalf of the jailed eco-activist.

Speaking from prison, she said: ‘The window of my cell in the hospital wing is blocked up and there is little natural light, in my previous cell I could see the birds and trees that line the prison fence.

‘I have less time to go outside in the prison yard for exercise now. 

‘All of this is testing my resolve to continue, but I feel that not eating is the only thing I can do from prison to draw attention to those who will have to make the choice between heating and eating this winter. 

‘Not standing by while our government commits treason against the people of this country feels like the most important thing I will do in my life.’

Smart was imprisoned along with eight other Insulate Britain activists who were given sentences of between three and six months after breaching an injunction designed to stop the group’s road-blocking protests.

They were also each ordered to pay costs of £5,000. The court ordered that the jailed activists should serve at least half their sentences. 

A further group of nine people from Insulate Britain have been summoned to appear at the High Court next month to face a charge of contempt of court.

If found guilty, they could be subject to unlimited fines, seizure of assets and prison sentences of up to two years. 

Smart, who was jailed earlier this month, was sent to HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey.

It was Britain’s first purpose-built prison for women when it opened in 2004.

Up to 572 women inmates can be held at the Category A jail across four houseblocks which can hold about 130 people in each one.

Each wing has a servery unit for women to collect their food, which they can either eat together on the wing or take it back to their rooms. 

Telephones are also provided in each room. It has a 17-bed healthcare facility, and a mother and baby unit for 12 women and 13 babies up to the age of 18 months.

Bronzefield is a privately run prison, operated by the firm Sodexo.

An HMP Bronzefield spokesperson said: ‘While we don’t comment on individual cases, we take the health and wellbeing of all of those who live and work in our prisons very seriously. 

‘We have established procedures for dealing with any health related matters to ensure appropriate care is provided.’

The Ministry of Justice told MailOnline to contact Sodexo for comment.   

It comes as Smart’s sister, Clare, took to Twitter on Friday to raise concern about her sibling.

She said: ‘Emma is always so strong yet today she was tearful when she phoned. It is really tough to hear her sounding sad.

‘The frustrating delays of not getting any of her belongings; her books, clothes, even her glasses for her to be able to comfortably read the emails that have been printed out. 

‘Each day she is told that it will happen and each day passes without it.’ 

Clare added that her sister wants her voice to be heard and the reasons for her hunger strike to be ‘shouted out loud.’ 

She said: ‘For those that are able to act in solidarity to do so. To not be forgotten about. 

‘To feel that she is continuing to act and to do everything that she can even from inside a prison cell.’ 

Smart was arrested on October 8 along with eight other Insulate Britain activists after four injunctions were granted by the High Court to National Highways in September.  

These banned protests on the M25, around the Port of Dover and on major roads around London.

A fifth injunction was granted to Transport For London on October 8.

Speaking from prison last week, she said in a statement via Insulate Britain: ‘Imprisoning all those who disagree with you is the mark of a bully and we all know that at heart, bullies are cowards.

‘So to the government we say carry on, bring down the combined might of your best lawyers and all the vast machinery of the state. We will not be cowed. 

‘Our numbers are growing because the general public knows we are on the right side of history.’  

In a video shared by Insulate Britain online last week, a short recording of Emma, believed to have been taken before she was sent to prison, can be seen in which she defends her actions and called for more civil disobedience.

Smart, an ecologist by trade, said: ‘It was quite an extreme campaign, you know, going onto the motorway but we’re in an extreme situation and I felt I had to do what was necessary.

‘I stepped up, we all need to step up. Non-violent civil disobedience is the only way we’re going to enact change.

‘We don’t need nine of us, or 20 of us in prison, we all need to put our liberty on the line because we are facing losing everything.’

In the clip shared to Twitter, Smart explains her actions leading up to taking part in the mob’s motorway protests earlier this year. 

Speaking with a row of fence panels behind her, she said: ‘I don’t know what more I can do and then IB [Insulate Britain] came along and yes, this was a way I could step up. 

‘It was quite an extreme campaign, you know, going onto the motorway but we’re in an extreme situation and I felt I had to do what was necessary.

‘So I feel this is the moment. Our government could have accepted and acted or done something meaningful in relation to our demands.

‘But they chose to imprison us and really that has got to send a strong message to everyone. Now is the time. We need to come together, whatever we’re doing is not enough. 

‘I stepped up, we all need to step up. Non-violent civil disobedience is the only way we’re going to enact change.

‘We don’t need nine of us, or 20 of us in prison, we all need to put our liberty on the line because we are facing losing everything.

‘Our life support systems are collapsing, society is going to collapse. Be part of that change while you have the chance.’ 

During her sentencing, Emma told the court that the proceedings were ‘obscene’ and glowered at barristers representing National Highways. 

However, the biologist has faced allegations of hypocrisy after undertaking a gas-guzzling 81,000-mile drive across the globe with her husband Andy Smith.