Groups claim victory after court cases are dropped
By Rob Edwards Environment Editor

ENVIRONMENTALISTS are claiming a victory over the state in the battle for the "right to protest" after 11 green activists in Scotland had court cases dropped against them. Criminal charges against the protesters, who were involved in demonstrations in Edinburgh, were abandoned in the wake of a seismic decision by a jury to acquit anti-pollution protesters in England.

Activists claim the police and prosecutors are no longer able to "criminalise" people trying to protect the planet.

The Crown Office, however, maintained that the cases had been "discontinued" for varying reasons.

On September 10, six Greenpeace protesters were cleared of causing £30,000 of damage during a protest at Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent. In court they argued that damage from the global warming they were trying to prevent gave them a "lawful excuse" to damage the power station. Their acquittal by a majority of the jury sent shock waves through the judicial system.

Since then three cases against 11 Scottish activists have collapsed. Breach of the peace charges have been dropped against two members of Plane Stupid Scotland who hung a banner against airport expansion from the roof of the Scottish Parliament in April.

Not guilty pleas by four protesters who tried to blockade a runway for private jets at Edinburgh airport in April have been accepted by the Crown Office. And the prosecution of five members of the Edinburgh Clown Army for a biofuels protest at a BP garage has failed after three of them were found not guilty on Wednesday.

"We took action to protect life and property from climate change," said Matilda Gifford, who took part in the Holyrood roof protest. "Whilst we'll never know for certain, it looks like the authorities are having to reconsider how they deal with us because they know that the public are way ahead of them when it comes to the issue of global warming."

Dan Glass, a spokesman for Plane Stupid Scotland, was cleared of a charge of breaching bail conditions banning him from coming within 800 metres of Edinburgh airport.

"It is becoming clearer that as a society, the law cannot continue to protect those destroying the environment and criminalise those working to preserve it if we are to adequately tackle climate change," Glass said.

Sophie Bastable, one of the Edinburgh Clown Army, accused police of trying to intimidate peaceful protesters. "The police are simply trying to get activists convicted for any offence, regardless of whether they have actually committed one," she claimed.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "When governments are out of touch on the most important issues of the day, change has usually come through protest, and there is currently no greater failure of government than their response to the climate crisis."

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service confirmed that some charges had been dropped.

Proceedings against the Holyrood roof protesters were halted as "an evidential difficulty arose and a review of the case disclosed that there was now insufficient evidence to continue the prosecution", said a Crown Office spokeswoman.

In the Edinburgh airport case, not guilty pleas from four of the accused were accepted. This followed a deal in which two other activists had earlier pled guilty and been admonished.

A sheriff had ruled that there was "no case to answer" against three of the garage protesters.