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File photo dated 7/6/2020 of protesters throwing the statue of Edward Colston into Bristol harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest rally. A
THE toppling of slave trader Edward Colston was a “violent act,” the Court of Appeal has ruled, in a decision that campaigners warn could weaken protest rights.
The judgement states that four protesters who were acquitted after tearing down the bronze statue at a Black Lives Matter demo in Bristol in June 2020 should not have been able to invoke their human rights as a defence.
Human rights defences should only be considered by courts in protest-related cases if the damage is “minor” and “low-value,” the ruling states, for example where the damage is temporary.
The heroism of the jury who defied prison and starvation conditions secured the absolute right of juries to deliver verdicts based on conscience — a convention which is now under attack, writes MAT COWARD
Court of Appeal rules key anti-protest legislation was forced through unlawfully
