Supreme Court overturns convictions of arms fair protesters

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Four peace campaigners who blocked traffic outside an arms fair in London in 2017, had their convictions overturned by the Supreme Court on Friday, in what has been hailed as an affirmation of the right to protest. Chris Cole, Henrietta Cullinan, Jo Frew, and Nora Ziegler, were among many hundreds of people - including members of Pax Christi, Quakers, and Christian CND - peacefully protesting against the UK's hosting of the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) Arms Fair in Docklands.

The four were arrested and charged with highway obstruction because their protest blocked an approach road to the Centre for about 90 minutes.

A district judge cleared them in February 2018 but the Director of Public Prosecutions appealed and the four were convicted at the High Court in January 2019, before being sentenced to conditional discharges of 12 months.

In December 2019 they were granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. On Friday, in a majority judgment the UK's highest court ruled the charges should be dismissed.

Lord Hamblen and Lord Stephens said: "There should be a certain degree of tolerance to disruption to ordinary life, including disruption of traffic, caused by the exercise of the right to freedom of expression or freedom of peaceful assembly …Political views, unlike 'vapid tittle-tattle' are particularly worthy of protection … The district judge took into account that the appellants were not a group of people who randomly chose to attend this event hoping to cause trouble. We consider that the peaceful intentions of the appellants were appropriate matters to be considered in an evaluation of proportionality."

Raj Chada, a partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, who represented the group said it was "a highly significant ruling" which recognised protests that are "deliberately obstructive" are still protected under articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 11 (freedom of assembly) of the European convention on human rights."

"Disruptive protests can and do change things. From anti-apartheid campaigners stopping sports events to civil rights protesters conducting sit-ins, disruption as a form of free speech can be the spark for radical change."

But, he said: "Whilst the supreme court has recognised the importance of free speech, the government seeks to undermine it by their disgraceful police and crime sentencing bill. That legislation is an attack on our civil rights and democratic values."

Henrietta Cullinan said: "That our simple protest, which lasted only a few minutes, though possibly disruptive, led to four years of legal toing and froing, illustrates very well the power of nonviolence. Our government, like many governments, sees any protest as a threat to its authority, as well it might. Selling arms is a rotten, dangerous business."

Chris Cole said: "We are delighted that the right to protest, even if it causes disruption to public life, has been upheld by the Supreme Court. It's particularly important in the context of attacks on the right to protest in the policing bill currently going through parliament."

On Tuesday, parliament's joint committee on human rights expressed concern that a new statutory offence of public nuisance in the policing bill does not include references to the right to freedom of expression or freedom of assembly in its definition of "reasonable excuse".

The next DSEI Arms Fair takes place at the ExCell Centre from 14-17 September 2021.

Who buys UK arms? The answer is, almost anyone who is willing to pay. The government's policy is to vigorously support the arms trade, so the regulations that exist are aimed at facilitating the trade rather than restricting it.

Arms exports to Saudi Arabia are a clear demonstration. Despite the Saudi military's devastating attacks on Yemen and the regime's terrible record on human rights, the UK has only ever refused a handful of applications for arms export licences. Since 2008, it has refused NO applications for the main type of export licence (Standard Individual Export Licences) to Saudi Arabia.

For more information see: Campaign Against the Arms Trade - https://caat.org.uk/