Declarations to cease and desist are part of civil law, meaning that it is a private individual or a corporation trying to assert their claim. (In contrast, the accusation of “trespassing“ is an element of criminal law, where the state sues individuals.)
About 100 people who participated in actions of protest have been asked to sign a declaration to cease and desist. That represents a legally binding promise to RWE to in the future refrain from any kind of protest on their property.
For example, it was enough to protest in front of one of RWE’s a coal fired power plants in order to receive such a declaration to cease and desist, which entails a live long ban from protest or even presence in any of the power plants, mines and all other premises RWE owns.
Most people refused to sign the declarations to cease and desist. RWE has been sueing for every single signature individually ever since. The costs for a potential civil law suit alone vary between 3.000 and 10.000 Euros. If the activists then lose their trial, they have to sign the declarations and expect heavy “contract penalties“ if they continue their protest against RWE. The company is hoping to intimidate and silence their opponents with these financial “sanctions“.
We will not let that happen.
Law is never set in stone, but subjected to societal power structures. These structures are what we are trying to shake up.