FOUR peaceful protesters who blocked a road leading to the DSEI arms fair in east London last September have been acquitted.

Christopher Cole, 54, Henrietta Cullinan, 56, Joanna Frew, 38, and Nora Ziegler, 28, were all cleared of one count of wilfully obstructing a highway after district Judge Angus Hamilton found that their actions were “reasonable” and protected by their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.

All four were arrested on September 5 for having obstructed Eastern Gateway, east London, by connecting themselves with lockboxes, designed to be “hard to disassemble,” in order to turn the road into a place of prayer.