A Fishguard woman has expressed her disappointment after being found guilty of causing criminal damage to the Brazilian Embassy in London.
Speaking exclusively to The Western Telegraph following Friday’s verdict, Sian Vaughan said her acts in August 2021 were prompted by her concern at the situation in Brazil and ‘their likely consequences for all of us’.
“I’m disappointed, but not surprised,” she said.
“All our previous attempts to use more obviously legal routes had been completely ignored and had failed,” explained Sian.
“This included letter writing, petitions and non-disruptive protests such as marches and standing outside the embassy with placards. With the situation as desperate and as urgent as it is, we felt that we needed to do something that could not be ignored.”
Sian Vaughan and three other co-defendants painted on the windows and walls of the Brazilian Embassy in Cockspur Street, London.
“We were completely peaceful, we didn’t cause irreparable damage but just wanted our message to get through. Making a mess on a building isn’t something I would do lightly, but it was either that or walk by on the other side of the road.”
Sian’s actions were motivated by the fact that indigenous people in Brazil are being forced out of their villages while their lands are being stolen, the forests illegally burned and their water poisoned by the mercury used by illegal gold miners.
“As well as the human destruction, the rainforest is being destroyed and degraded at an alarming rate,” she explained.
“And President Bolsonaro has encouraged this, promising to open up every inch of the Amazon for development, saying that he regretted that Brazil had been less successful than the American cavalry in getting rid of their ‘Indians’.”
Because so much of the rain forest has already been lost, Sian believes the situation is very close to tipping point.
“I can understand why many people will disapprove of what I did, but I don’t regret my action and I will continue to try to make a difference,” she said.
“With nature on a knife edge governments, including the UK government, fail to act or even to learn lessons from past mistakes. They press ahead with climate-stupid decisions on new oil and coal and refuse to protect nature from attack or to stop imports of environmentally disastrous products.
“Without urgent action, this will get much worse and we, our children and our grandchildren will suffer increasingly wherever we live.”
Sian Vaughan will be sentenced on January 27.
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