Balcombe Protectors Acquitted

09 Jan­u­ary 2014 Peo­ple cel­e­brate out­side Brighton Mag­is­trates Court after Bal­combe pro­tec­tors acquit­ted on all charges as a resul

09 Jan­u­ary 2014 Peo­ple cel­e­brate out­side Brighton Mag­is­trates Court after Bal­combe pro­tec­tors acquit­ted on all charges as a result of their coura­geous actions to defend Sus­sex from frack­ing last sum­mer.

Over 120 peo­ple were arrest dur­ing the 2 month block­ade of Cuadrilla’s Bal­combe frack­ing site. More than twen­ty tri­als are still sched­uled over the next few month at the moment.

 

  • 10:00am – Court back on
  • 10:00am – Judge tries to explain Trade Union and Labour Rela­tions (Con­sol­i­da­tion) Act 1992 to pub­lic gallery
  • 10:45am – Judge states pro­ceed­ings could fin­ish today!
  • 11:00am – Defence reads char­ac­ter ref­er­ences. Pros­e­cu­tion doesn’t like them but judge says he will make up his own mind
  • 11:50am – Defence estab­lish­es no warn­ing giv­en before arrests
  • 11:55am – Pro­tec­tor explains how his act involves a bed of nails and the police tried to drag him off it with­out ask­ing him to get up
  • 12:15pm – Bed of nails was placed between log and gate on health and safe­ty grounds
  • 12:25pm – Penul­ti­mate pro­tec­tor describes how he was phys­i­cal­ly assault­ed by the police pri­or to his arrest
  • 12:30pm – Pro­tec­tor describes police using pres­sure points to inflict great pain on him
  • 12:45pm – Bal­combe res­i­dent takes the stand as a wit­ness
  • 12:50pm – Wit­ness con­firms that road was closed
  • 12:55pm – Wit­ness had pic­nic with kids
  • 1:00pm – Wit­ness describes how atmos­phere changed when a bat­tal­ion of police arrived – they were trapped as police start­ed vio­lent­ly arrest­ing peo­ple – her 5 year old son was trau­ma­tised
  • 1:10pm – Pros­e­cu­tion is ask­ing to reopen case and pro­duce new wit­ness – a Cuadrilla drilling super­vi­sor. Defence is object­ing.
  • 1:15pm – Judge hear­ing objec­tions
  • 1:15pm – Judge to allow pros­e­cu­tions new evi­dence. Court ris­es for lunch back at 2pm
  • 2:00pm – Court back in ses­sion
  • 2:10pm – Cuadrilla drilling super­vi­sor in wit­ness box
  • 2:35pm – Cross exam­i­na­tion of Cuadrilla employ­ee com­plet­ed
  • 2:55pm – Final pro­tec­tor takes the stand
  • 3:20pm – Defence case over; Court in recess until 3:30pm
  • 3:30pm – Court recovened
  • 3:35pm – Pros­e­cu­tion sum­ming up
  • 3:40pm – Pros­e­cu­tion claim pro­tec­tors should have just protest­ed e.g. with a plac­ard, and let Cuadrilla get on with frack­ing Sus­sex
  • 3:45pm – Judge about to announce ver­dict
  • 3:45pm – One pro­tec­tor is found not guilty on ridicu­lous assault charge result­ing from police knock­ing
  • 4:00pm – All pro­tec­tors acquit­ted!
  • 4:00pm – Dis­trict Judge found their actions were rea­son­able in the cir­cum­stances and that they act­ed with dig­ni­ty.
  • 4:00pm – Sug­gest­ed that the Police had very bad mem­o­ries with regard to their evi­dence! Big ques­tion was deemed to be lim­its of free­dom of speech.