Owen Greenhall, of the Garden Court Protest Team, was instructed be Mike Schwarz of Hodge Jones and Allen solicitors. Raj Chada also of Hodge Jones & Allen represented the co-defendants.
Owen Greenhall acted for two Greenpeace protesters who faced trial alongside Greta Thunberg and two Fossil Free London protestors at Westminster Magistrates Court. They were charged with public order offences after protesting in London at the InterContinental hotel in Mayfair, which was hosting the Energy Intelligence Forum (EIF) summit at the time.
The Metropolitan Police imposed conditions on the protest under Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986. The case was one of the first to be tried following the amendments to the Act which redefines “serious disruption” as a “more than minor hindrance to day to day activities”.
The judge held there was no case to answer on several grounds including that the prosecution had failed to prove the lawfulness of the conditions imposed on the protest. The judge also added: "the protest was "throughout peaceful, civilised and non-violent".
The defence argued that the section 14 order disproportionately restricted the defendants right to protest and had not been communicated clearly.
The case has received widespread news coverage, including The Guardian, BBC News and euronews.
