Vigil for GP jailed over Just Stop Oil protest

Scores of people took part in a city centre vigil for a GP jailed over his role in a Just Stop Oil protest.

Dr Patrick Hart, 38, was sentenced to 12 months in prison in January after causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to 16 fuel pumps at a service station in Essex in August 2022.

In March, Dr Hart also had his General Medical Council registration suspended for an interim 12-month period, and faces a possible further suspension following his release.

About 150 people, including former colleagues and patients, gathered at Cascade Steps in Bristol on Saturday to raise awareness of his sentence.

Dr Romola Pocock, a GP and former colleague of Dr Hart's at Bridge View Medical Practice, said he had shown "care, integrity and dedication" to his job and was "greatly missed by patients and colleagues".

Fellow GP at the practice Dr Emily Pollard said: "Will history remember doctors who stood against the destruction of the health of our planet as criminals?"

Dr Hart was arrested after hitting petrol pumps with a hammer, spraying them with orange pain and "obstructed or otherwise interfered with the refuelling of vehicles", and was found guilty of causing criminal damage.

Essex County Council said the cost of repairing the pumps was £9,376, with the temporary closure of the petrol station leading to lost profits of £1,146, the court heard during his sentencing.

Dr Hart had previously taken part in other demonstrations with Just Stop Oil, and said he had been prepared to risk his career to do what he believes is "the right thing".

Ahead of the vigil on Saturday a spokesperson for the British Medical Association said: "The climate crisis is a health crisis.

"Doctors, like Patrick Hart, find it very difficult to understand why their ability to practise medicine could be suspended because of nonviolent actions they take in protest of the climate crisis."

Climate change is the long-term shift in the Earth's average temperatures and weather conditions.

The world has been warming up quickly over the past 100 years or so. As a result, weather patterns are changing.

Between 2014 and 2023, global temperatures were on average around 1.2C above those of the late 19th Century, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

Since the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one, the UK Met Office says.

The year 2024 was the world's hottest on record and was the first year to pass the 1.5C warning limit.

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