Although found guilty following anti-war action, Judge dismisses application by National Domestic Extremism Unit for ASBO against anti-war activists
Catholic anti-war protestors Fr Martin Newell of the London Catholic Worker and Chris Cole from Oxford were today found guilty of causing criminal damage for pouring paint over the gates and pavement of Downing Street on the 10th Anniversary of the Afghanistan war. The pair were ordered to pay £360 court costs and compensation but no fine was imposed.
The National Domestic Extremism Unit applied to the judge to impose an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) on the pair forbidding them from entering Whitehall and the surrounding area for a period of up to ten years as well as forbidding them from being in possession of paint, bolt-cutters, chalk and charcoal.
District Judge Turner however refused the application saying that there was no evidence in any of the multiple anti-war convictions brought forward as evidence by the Domestic Extremism Unit as to why an ASBO was necessary that anyone had suffered "harassment, alarm or distress".
For background see
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/04/494880.html
I will write up proper report soon
The National Domestic Extremism Unit applied to the judge to impose an Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) on the pair forbidding them from entering Whitehall and the surrounding area for a period of up to ten years as well as forbidding them from being in possession of paint, bolt-cutters, chalk and charcoal.
District Judge Turner however refused the application saying that there was no evidence in any of the multiple anti-war convictions brought forward as evidence by the Domestic Extremism Unit as to why an ASBO was necessary that anyone had suffered "harassment, alarm or distress".
For background see
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/04/494880.html I will write up proper report soon
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