Two Bury St Edmunds Extinction Rebellion activists in court over Hertfordshire newspaper printer blockade
Two women from Bury St Edmunds were are amongst five people in court today following a protest which cost a printing firm 'more than a million pounds'.
Charlotte Kirin, 52, of Peckham Street, and Hazel Stenson, 57, of Summer Road, Bury St Edmunds, appeared at St Albans magistrates’ court this afternoon alongside Caspar Hughes, 49, of Commercial Road, Exeter, Amir Jones, 40, of Fletcher Street, London, and Elise Yarde, 33, of Gainsford Road, London.
All are members of climate activism group Extinction Rebellion.
Fellow member, Laura Frandsen, 31, of Waller Road, London, was also due to appear but was not at court as she is awaiting the results of a Covid test.
She is expected to be at the court to give evidence on Friday.
The court heard, the protestors cost a newspaper printers 'more than £1 million' when they blocked a road leading to the works.
The demonstration by around 50 Extinction Rebellion activists stopped three and a half million copies of national newspapers, including the Telegraph, Mail, Sun and the Times being distributed from the plant just off the A10 near Broxbourne in Herts.
It is the second trial following the protest - which began at around 10pm on September 4 last year - and continued to the following morning.
On Monday, at the end of the first trial, six members of Extinction Rebellion were convicted of wilfully blocking the highway and were fined and given conditional discharges.
All six members appearing today faced the same charge.
Workers at the Newsprinters site, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, were unable to leave in their cars at the end of the shifts and had to go home in taxis, St Albans magistrates’ court heard.
Prosecutor Nigel Ogborne said Extinction Rebellion were protesting about News International’s attitude to climate change.
He said the six defendants on trial were 'in, on and under' two hired Citroen vans which blocked the road.
Inspector Matthew Barton told the court: “There were a large number of protestors blocking the main access road off the A10.
There were two vans blocking the main roadway and two purpose-built bamboo structures that had protestors at height on each.
“I gave options to them to continue to protest lawfully by moving from the road to a nearby grass bank.
"They refused to leave the road.”
Alan Brett, the Newsprinters’ manufacturing director, told District Judge Sally Fudge: “Some employees had to get taxis.
"Their cars were in the car park. They were blocked in. We weren’t able to distribute any copies whatsoever.
"We looked at printing elsewhere. We lost a lot of sales and the copies were left on the floor.
“We lost over a million pounds.”
Amir Jones, who represented himself, put it to Inspector Barton that if the protest had moved to the side of the road it would not have achieved the national and broadcast media coverage it did.
The inspector replied: "It is hard for me to understand reporting mechanism of media.
I was trying to strike a balance in protecting right of assembly and free speech and the rights of the employees and the public on a wider scale.
"To balance that and ensure safety, the only option was to offer a peaceful protest on the side of the road.”
District Judge Sally Fudge adjourned the case at St Albans magistrates’ court until Friday.
For information on how we can report on court proceedings, click here
Read more: All the latest news from Suffolk
Read more: All the latest news from Bury St Edmunds
