Owen Greenhall and Audrey Cherryl Mogan, members of the Garden Court Chambers Protest Team, represented the appellants. They were instructed by Raj Chada (HJA) and Lydia Dagostino (Kellys).
Simon Natas (ITN) and Peter Cruickshank appeared for other appellants, with Tom Franklin representing himself.
Extinction Rebellion protestors have successfully appealed convictions for breaching conditions imposed on protests in April 2019 on the basis that the prosecution could not prove the conditions were proportionate.
The police imposed conditions on the protests under Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986. Following an appeal at Southwark Crown Court, the court was not satisfied the police gave any consideration to imposing less intrusive conditions on protests at Parliament Square and were not satisfied that the order at Oxford Circus remained proportionate due to a lack of review.
Over 1000 arrests were made by the Metropolitan Police for breach of conditions imposed on Extinction Rebellion Protests in April 2019 leading to more than 500 prosecutions. This latest finding by a court supplements the High Court’s ruling that Section 14 conditions imposed on later protests in October 2019 were unlawful.