a British judge He dropped the charges against him in London this Friday Greta Thunberg and other environmentalists for disrupting public order They were arrested during a demonstration against fossil fuels, believing police were using “illegal” conditions when making the arrests.
The 21-year-old Swedish activist and four other defendants appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court for the second day in a row following their involvement in the incident. A protest outside a hotel in central London on 17 OctoberIt is the venue for a forum attended by senior executives of energy companies.
In making his decision, Judge John Law found “deficiencies” in the communications of the agents who interacted with the activists and concluded:Police “applied unreasonable measures” So that environmentalists can comply with the police’s instructions.
“It is clear to me that the conditions were unnecessarily imposed,” said the judge, who drew loud applause and cheers from family and friends following the case from the public gallery when he announced he was dropping the charges.
The allegations made by the Prosecutor’s lawyer, Luke Staton, after hearing evidence between yesterday and today from London Metropolitan Police (Met) officers who led the security operation during the demonstration. He preferred the charges be withdrawn because “they are so vague as to be illegal.”.
According to him, “none of the activists who failed to comply with police conditions were guilty of any crime due to the lack of clarity of these guidelines”.
“I find this quite striking There were no eyewitnesses in the hotel where there were approximately a thousand people.or anyone attempting to enter; “There is neither evidence of vehicles (…) nor evidence of intervention in emergency services,” he said.
Thunberg had already pleaded not guilty, along with other activists, to violating Article 14 of the Public Order Act.
At the hearing this Friday, the judge heard the arguments of the defense legal team. Evidence provided ‘not clear’ because police officers were not specific in their ‘communications’ Activists protesting outside the InterContinental hotel in Mayfair were telling them exactly what to do and where to go.
In this sense, lawyer Rad Chada argued that the assigned police did not give them enough time to leave the area, so the protesters “did not know and could not know what they could do.”
On the other hand, lawyer Luke Staton from the Prosecutor’s Office claimed that “there is evidence showing that the defendants are guilty of disturbing public order.”
To justify the arrests, which the defense called “disproportionate,” Staton recalled that police “genuinely believed that a serious disturbance was occurring in the community.”
The lawyer was inside the hotel whose access was blocked by activists. “About a thousand people, including guests and delegates (of the energy forum), were unable to leave and some had to catch flights.”.
He said the arrests were also made after officers tried “other tactics that were unsuccessful” to clear the demonstration.
Although he stated that “the legislation is clear” and determined that sufficient time should be given to comply with police instructions before making an arrest, ““Activists have made it clear that they will stay where they are.” He added when they were asked to leave the scene.
Greenpeace activist Maja Darlington said in a statement that today’s decision was “a victory for the right to protest” and added that it was “ridiculous that more and more climate activists are finding themselves in court for peacefully exercising their rights”. “Energy giants make profits by selling fossil fuels.
The defendants faced each other economic sanctions of 2,500 pounds (about 2,900 euros) each.
Source: Informacion
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