During the Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow last year, large numbers of police invaded the site, only to be peacefully resisted by the Campers, and ejected from the site with impressive restraint. The pretext for this attack by the police was so that the Forward Intelligence Team could “do a headcount” (in spite of the face that local police officers were already patrolling the site, and were presumably perfectly capable of fulfilling this task). It is far more likely that the real reason behind the police action was their desire to provoke a riot, and thus have an excuse to destroy the camp and bang heads. After the incursion the Territorial Support Group (riot police) were ordered to kit themselves out in full gear, to prepare for a second assault on the camp.
This would have come to pass if it had not been for the swift response of an activist who superglued her hands to the gates in order to deny them access.
As a result of this action Penny Eastwood was charged with obstructing the police in the course of their duty, and she entered a plea of innocent on the grounds that the police were not acting in accordance with their duty.
After months of delay, the trial took place at Uxbridge on 8th and 9th January, at which the prosecution case collapsed. The district judge presiding rightly spotted that the police’s case was a load of rubbish, because they produced no evidence that they were prevented from carrying out a lawful duty.
This case proves (if any proof were needed), that the police are ever happy to employ violence in pursuit of their political aims. It also shows that the Met are spectacularly stupid. I suppose we should take some comfort that there are still judges in Britain who think that the provoking of riots is outside a police officer’s normal course of duty.
Penny said “I was trying to de-escalate the situation after aggressively over the top policing had created tension. There were riot police crouching behind the hedgerow. It was very scary, particularly as there were children on site”.
“I am a climate activist because I am a mother and I want to ensure that my children have a half-way decent future — that’s why I see it as my duty to oppose acts of environmental lunacy, like airport expansion. I thought that the riot police were trying to shut down the climate camp, and I didn’t think that that was right or fair. The trial has been hanging over me for several months, and it is a huge relief that my action has been vindicated by the judge.”