XR activists who scaled Canning Town Tube admit: 'We got it wrong'

Extinction Rebellion activists who scaled a Tube at Canning Town at rush hour before being dragged off and roughed up by commuters admit: ‘We got it wrong’ as judges spares them jail but warns, ‘You went too far’

  • XR activists who scaled a Tube at Canning Town station at rush hour admitted: ‘We got it wrong’ 
  • Mark Ovland, 38, and his fellow protester James Mee, 37, unfurled a banner saying ‘business as usual = death’  
  • They were then pulled off the Tube and roughed up by angry commuters on October 2019 demo 
  • A judge has spared them jail but warned the protesters: ‘What you did though is you went too far’

Extinction Rebellion activists who enraged commuters by scaling a Tube at Canning Town station at rush hour before being dragged off and roughed up by commuters admitted: ‘We got it wrong’ as a judge spared them jail on Friday.

Mark Ovland, 38, and his fellow protester James Mee, 37, unfurled a banner saying ‘business as usual = death’ as angry passengers bombarded them with coins, coffee and sandwiches in east London on October 17, 2019, during a two-week protest.

Mee was eventually pulled onto the platform at Canning Tube station and kicked by commuters during the morning rush-hour. 

Edmund Blackman, prosecuting, said the pair were only on top of the train for 20 minutes but 48,000 people had their morning journeys affected.

After both men were given 12-month community orders, Ovland said: ‘We had the best of intentions but this time we got it wrong.’

Judge Silas Reid told the pair: ‘Each of you was part of a team under the wider Extinction Rebellion umbrella. This was a protest about a hugely important area. It is, though, irrelevant whether your argument is on the right side entirely or not. Of course, climate change is a vitally important matter for everyone to consider for the future.

‘What you did though is you went too far.’


Mark Ovland (left in left picture, and right) was among those arrested at Caning Town for scrambling atop a tube

Mark Ovland, 38, and his fellow protester James Mee, 37, unfurled a banner saying ‘business as usual = death’ as angry passengers bombarded them with coins, coffee and sandwiches in east London on October 17, 2019

Mee was eventually pulled onto the platform at Canning Tube station and kicked by commuters during the morning rush-hour

Edmund Blackman, prosecuting, said the pair were only on top of the train for 20 minutes but 48,000 people had their morning journeys affected

The aim of the Canning Town protest was to target financial institutions and bankers in Canary Wharf, but it resulted in stopping ordinary from getting to work by train and, in some cases, losing out on pay

The crowd first turned on the protesters who were filming the operation

They were ‘set upon, dragged from the bench they were sat on and stamped on while on the ground’, said Judge Reid

Extinction Rebellion received criticism and even left members of its own camp divided for choosing to target the underground station during rush hour.

Several videos surfaced of ugly scenes at Canning Town station, showing one protester walking on top of the train as a crush of commuters jeer at him to get down.

One throws a cup of coffee over the him and a group then give another commuter a boost so he can reach the protester’s ankle and drag him off the carriage to the platform.

Once he hits the ground, the video shows, an angry group of commuters surround him and some were caught on camera seemingly kicking and attacking the man, before a London Underground employee steps in.

Before 7am protesters arrived en masse at the east London station and unfurled a banner reading ‘business as usual = death’. At least two scaled a train as it waited to depart, sparking violent fury from commuters.

In a statement Extinction Rebellion acknowledged one of their own protesters had turned violent.

XR said: ‘We are aware that one of our activists responded in self defence in a moment of panic when confronted by a threatening situation. He acknowledges his accountability for this action and we offer gratitude for members of the public who helped to protect him.’

The group went on: ‘The people involved today did not take this action lightly. They were a grandfather, an ex-buddhist teacher, a vicar and a former GP among others who acted out of rational fear for the future as this crisis deepens.’

Accounts administrator Mee, and former Buddhist teacher Ovland had parted company with their defence barristers after Judge Silas Reid ruled that there was no legal defence available to them.

A jury at Inner London Crown Court convicted them of obstructing engines or carriages on railways under the Malicious Damages Act 1861 after deliberating for 90 minutes.

After handing down their verdict the jury said in a note: ‘We wholeheartedly support the cause. Our verdict is based purely on the law rather than any personal feelings we may have about climate change.’

The protest was part of a two-week demonstration when Extinction Rebellion protesters targeted DLR trains in east London stations including Canning Town, Shadwell and Stratford.

The aim of the Canning Town protest was to target financial institutions and bankers in Canary Wharf, but it resulted in stopping ordinary from getting to work by train and, in some cases, losing out on pay.

Judge Reid said: ‘This is not an isolated incident on the day. There were at least three incidents that took place at exactly the same time. This was a coordinated action as against the… Underground system on the day in east London.’

However, Mee and Ovland had limited information about the ‘demographics and set up of Canning Town’, said Michale Goold, defending.

He added: ‘They were told this was a specifically picked location to have a greater impact on the financial sector. This action they took part in was part of the two-week October event.’

Judge Reid conceded that they were not aware of the demographics of Canning Town as neither are from London and they were only told about the location the night before.

The people impacted were ‘not the people working in the financial districts’ of Canary Wharf, he said. ‘These were people trying to earn money to feed and house themselves.’

He continued: ‘There was a significant degree of group planning. What wasn’t planned for was what happened… the crowd became angry, that anger moved over into violence.’

The crowd first turned on the protesters who were filming the operation. They were ‘set upon, dragged from the bench they were sat on and stamped on while on the ground’, said Judge Reid.

He continued: ‘You, Mr Mee, were dragged down from the train and set upon thankfully very briefly. You were absolutely terrified… You said you thought you might be killed.’

Ovland was ‘effectively chased down from the train’, he added.

Judge Reid sentenced on the basis that both men have shown remorse and recognise that their protest targeted the wrong people.

‘Each of you have stated that in the future you have no intention to engage in behaviour that is criminal,’ he said.

After sentencing, Ovland said: ‘Our action two years ago was a mistake. We had the best of intentions but this time we got it wrong and I really want to apologise to anyone who was affected on the day.

‘The climate crisis is real, I think we all know that now, and its impacts are going to be increasingly devastating. We need to come together, we need to put our arms around each other and help and support the stumbling and the blind as we walk into this uncertain future.

‘As for my sentencing, that has always been the least concern for me. What was important was raising the alarm on the climate crisis, no matter what personal repercussions there’d be. That said, I’m more than happy to have been given community service. I’ll look forward to working with a team and helping out with whatever tasks we’re put to.’

XR activists Mark Ovland (left) and James Mee (right) were showered with coffee and coins as they refused to get down from the top of a tube train

The protest was part of a two-week demonstration when Extinction Rebellion protesters targeted DLR trains in east London stations including Canning Town, Shadwell and Stratford

TfL staff asked Mee and Ovland to come down but they refused

XR activist, 37, was ‘scared and thought his life was in danger as commuters threw coffees and sandwiches at him’ 

An Extinction Rebellion activist who scaled a Tube train to protest about climate change told a court he did not get down because he feared he would be killed.

James Mee, 37, was eventually pulled onto the platform at Canning Town station and kicked by enraged passengers during the morning rush-hour on October 17, 2019.

Inner London Crown Court has heard accounts administrator Mee, and former Buddhist teacher Mark Ovland, 38, were showered with coffee, sandwiches and coins as they refused to get down.

They unfurled a banner saying ‘business as usual=death’ while a public announcement told the crowd to evacuate.

Edmund Blackman, prosecuting, has said the pair were only on top of the train for 20 minutes but 48,000 people had their morning commutes affected.

Giving evidence Mee said the original plan had been to block the Jubilee line for one hour, from 6am, to disrupt workers travelling into the City – but they were 45 minutes late.

‘We were told no one would be about other than a few cleaners coming home and if we got on top of the train and staged the protest the police would arrive very quickly, the station would be closed, a special removal team would have to be called.’

An Extinction Rebellion spokesperson said: ‘What happened was deeply regrettable. Both James and Mark have expressed their remorse and lessons have been learnt.

‘They were motivated by the urgent need to act in the face of the existential threat of climate breakdown and we stand with them wholeheartedly.’

Three years ago, Ovland, along with two other XR protestors, was convicted of obstructing the railway after they glued themselves to a DLR train at Canary Wharf station on April 17, 2019.

Edmund Blackman, prosecuting, said during the trial: ‘The attitude of the crowd and some of the public who were inconvenienced were angry and hostile and things on the platform got very ugly.

‘People were reaching up, trying to pull the people and the banner off the train, throwing things, coffee, coins, verbally jeering.’

TfL staff asked Mee and Ovland to come down but they refused.

‘A lot of people had their camera phones out, recording what was going on,’ said Mr Blackman.

‘One of the people who was recording seems to have been there by arrangement, involved in Extinction Rebellion, recording what was going on for, presumably, publicity purposes.

‘The crowd turned on him when they realised who he was and he was assaulted by members of the public on the platform.’

Giving evidence, Mee said the original plan had been to block the Jubilee line for one hour, from 6am, to disrupt workers travelling into the City – but they were 45 minutes late.

‘We were told no one would be about other than a few cleaners coming home and if we got on top of the train and staged the protest the police would arrive very quickly, the station would be closed, a special removal team would have to be called.

‘We wanted the protest to be a success and also it was scary and I didn’t know what people were going to do,’ Mee said.

‘We were up there for 18/19 minutes, waiting for the police to arrive, the pressure increasing. I didn’t know what the crowd was going to do, I was overreacting in my mind.

‘I went to the most catastrophic conclusion. People were making death threats, I thought my life was in danger and the last thing I wanted to do was get down.’

Mee said he expected to receive a ‘serious, serious beating’ if got off the train. ‘As it happened, there were a few people who wanted to put the boot in, none of them really connected. The crowd very quickly pacified after we were brought down.’

Asked about footage of him kicking out at a passenger who reached up to grab him, Mee said he felt guilty about breaking Extinction Rebellion’s code of non-violence.

Mr Blackman played footage of Mee and Ovland climbing onto the train, after which a passenger approaches shouts and throws a sandwich at them.

The prosecutor asked: ‘Within a minute of you getting on that train people are already angry, aren’t they? Did you not think at that stage, it’s not going where you want, should we not get off now?’.

‘You can see in the footage someone throws a sandwich,’ replied Mee. ‘At that point there was less fear of our safety from violence in the crowd.

‘We were there to do a protest and there’s that human psychology in that it’s harder to abandon something you’ve started and as things got more violent it became harder to come down.’

Mee, of Bristol, and Ovland, of Somerset, denied but were convicted of obstructing engines or carriages on railways under the Malicious Damages Act 1861.

Mee has nine previous convictions for 14 offences, the most recent being criminal damage on 9 December 2019, two months after this offence took place.

Ovland was in breach of a conditional discharge that he received on October 14, 2019 for gluing himself to the doors of the InterContinental Hotel London Park Lane while a BP conference in relation to oil and gas was taking place. Both protestors were given community orders for 12 months with 60 hours unpaid work.

Mee, who has recently got a job as a part-time administrator, was ordered to pay costs of £600 at a rate of £50 per month starting 1 May.

Ovland, who receives a carer’s allowance as he looks after his grandmother full-time, was ordered to pay £480 in costs, paid back at a rate of £40 per month starting 1 May.

This is a third of what prosecutor Oliver Weetch asked for which was total costs of £3,360 – £1,680 each. Both must also pay £85 each in victim surcharge.

Mee, the taller of the two men, appeared in court wearing green Adidas shorts and a grey t-shirt and Ovland was wearing brown chino trousers with a t-shirt.

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