Protest Rights

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Garden Court Chambers is nationally renowned for its expertise in successfully defending the right to protest for a wide range of progressive campaigners.

The Garden Court Chambers Crime Team has been shortlisted as ‘Crime Set of the Year’ at the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2021.

We have a long history of representing protestors in criminal and civil litigation, over many decades including the Mangrove 9, Poll Tax protestors, striking miners at Orgreave, Brian Haw’s occupation of Parliament Square and the Occupy movement.

We have been instructed to represent activists in most of the major protests of recent years including those against fracking, climate change, racism, war, austerity and the arms trade.

Protecting the right to freedom of expression and assembly is at the core of our founding ethos to hold state agents to account and promote fundamental human rights.

OUR EXPERTISE

Garden Court is unique in possessing expertise across all areas of the law relating to protest: from criminal defence to injunctions to civil action and public law challenges.

Garden Court Chambers is highly ranked by the legal directories for protest law as well as police actions, criminal defence, civil liberties and human rights, including a number of Band 1 silks and juniors. Clients benefit from our multi-disciplinary expertise across all of these areas, allowing us to provide a seamless service, unrivalled by most other chambers.

We have a long-standing track record of pursuing bold and innovative points of law through the courts to secure the best possible outcome for our clients. We have represented campaigners in the criminal courts and the civil courts, including the High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

Our barristers have lectured and written widely on protest law. Members of our team have written ‘The Protest Handbook’, which covers both the criminal and civil aspects of protest law.

Injunctions

Garden Court barristers have significant expertise challenging the use of civil injunctions by public authorities and corporations to prevent and restrict the rights of protesters, including injunctions against “persons unknown”. We have acted in most of the lead cases in which injunctions under the Protection From Harassment Act 1997 were transposed to the protest context.

We also have extensive knowledge of human rights defences to civil injunctions associated with our leading expertise defending the rights of Gypsies and Travellers.

We have successfully challenged injunctions against animal rights protestors and environmental protestors, for example Plane Stupid and anti-fracking protestors demonstrating against INEOS and UKOG.

Civil Claims and Public Law Challenges

Our Civil Liberties and Public Law barristers can assist solicitors and campaigners with:

Upholding protestors’ rights under Articles 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Challenging the excessive or unlawful use of force by police officers
Obtaining apologies
Securing compensation where authorities and companies have acted unlawfully
Changes to police practice through disciplinary and civil actions against the police
Judicial review proceedings where the law has been misapplied
Pre-emptively, or after the event, public law challenges to unlawful arrests, police decisions to take DNA, fingerprints or photos, decisions to retain or disclose sensitive personal information to third parties on criminal records checks for employers, or visa applications
Pre-litigation advice to campaigners on criminal and civil liability for direct action protests.
Planning and environmental law challenges and injunctions on behalf of campaigners to prevent unlawful development and climate change emissions

To contact the Civil Liberties Clerks, please email civillibertiesclerks@gclaw.co.uk or phone +44 (0)20 7993 7600

Defending protestors in criminal proceedings

Our criminal defence protest law barristers are nationally renowned for representing protesters in the criminal courts alongside the top ranked protest solicitors in the UK. They have gathered a wealth of knowledge from many of the most high profile protest cases in recent years.

Our criminal defence team has secured a number of acquittals including for Extinction Rebellion, Black Lives Matter, Occupy protestors, anti-fracking campaigners, peace activists and many more (see examples of notable cases below).

In 2015 our crime team won the Legal 500 Crime Set of the Year Award and we have since been shortlisted for the award a further two times.

How our criminal defence protest specialists can help:

Devising and deploying new and innovative ways to defend protestors and challenge State abuse of power
Scrutinising and challenging police powers (e.g. stop and search) or CPS decisions
Representing defendants in court charged with public order offences
Mobilising human rights arguments during criminal trials

To contact the Criminal Defence Clerks, please email crimeclerks@gclaw.co.uk or phone +44 (0)20 7993 7600

Protestor Marieha Hussain acquitted of racially aggravated public order offence after holding ‘coconut’ placard

The defendant, Marieha Hussain, was found not guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence after a two-day trial at Westminster Magistrates Court. This ridiculous yet dangerous prosecution concerned a placard held by Marieha at a Palestine protest that depicted a drawing of a palm tree with Suella Braverman and former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak superimposed on coconuts. The Court examined […]

Monday 16 Sep 2024

Past Notable Cases

DPP v Ziegler [2021] 3 WLR 179
Seismic Supreme Court decision which re-cast the balance of protest rights in England and Wales back towards demonstrators. The defendants were acquitted of obstructing the highway leading to the DSEI arms fair. The Court held that intentional action by protestors to disrupt the activities of others could come under the protection of the right to freedom of expression within the European Convention on Human Rights, even when the obstruction was more than minimal.

‘The Stansted 15’: R v Thacker [2021] 2 WLR 1087
In 2017 the ‘Stansted 15’ took action to prevent a deportation flight removing people from the UK and taking them to countries where their lives were at risk due to their sexuality. In 2021, the Court of Appeal quashed their convictions for ‘Endangering Safety at an Aerodrome’, holding that the defence interpretation of this rarely charged offence was correct and the court should have acceded to their submission that there was no case to answer. Reported in BBC and Guardian.

INEOS vs Persons Unknown [2019] EWCA Civ 515
We represented environmental campaigners in this successful complex challenge against a High Court injunction brought by the fracking company, INEOS, and designed to deter protest against fracking. This injunction was described as one of the most wide-ranging ever granted against protestors. The case went to the Court of Appeal on a point of principle about suing “persons unknown”. The judgment recognised the serious chilling effect of the INEOS injunction on civil liberties and makes clear that the Court will intervene to prevent powerful companies like INEOS using draconian injunctions to intimidate and deter people from participating in lawful protest against fracking. Reported in Independent and Drill or Drop.

UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) v Persons Unknown [2018] EWHC 2252 (Ch)
Represented six environmental campaigners who took legal action in high-profile challenge seeking to overturn a broad injunction sought by UK Oil and Gas against “persons unknown”, prohibiting lawful acts of protest against fracking activities. Reported in Guardian and Drill or Drop.

Sheffield City Council v Brooke [2018] EWHC 1540 (QB)
First time High Court acknowledges defence of another as a defence to contempt of court. Sheffield tree protestor facing committal proceedings.

‘Rotherham 12’ acquitted of violent disorder against far-right extremists
Twelve Asian defendants were charged with violent disorder after a peaceful anti-fascist demonstration was directed into the path of vicious far-right football hooligans by South Yorkshire police. Ten of the twelve defendants were unanimously acquitted by a jury following a trial in October 2016, three of whom were represented by Garden Court counsel. Not Guilty verdicts were also entered against the remaining two, both represented by Garden Court, after further material came to light affecting the credibility of a key police witness.

R(DPP) v Stratford Magistrates Court [2017] EWHC 1794 (Admin)
High Court considered scope of Prevention of Crime Defence in protest cases. The DPP brought a judicial review against the acquittal, by a district judge, of anti-arms fair protestors on the basis they acted in order to prevent crime by the sale of illegal weapons at the Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair. Eight protesters who blocked roads outside the DSEI arms fair in 2015 were found not guilty. The defendants argued that they were acting to prevent the illegal sale of torture equipment and weapons sold to countries that abused human rights. Garden Court acted at trial and on appeal. Reported in Guardian and Independent.

Occupy Protest acquittals
Garden Court represented four protestors from Occupy Democracy who were cleared of charges relating to a protest in Parliament Square in October 2014. The four were part of a group of protestors who were arrested after sitting on a tarpaulin and were charged with an offence of keeping in place ‘sleeping equipment’ in Parliament Square Gardens. This case was one of the first mass arrests under the PRSRA 2011 legislation governing Parliament Square. Following the judgment, the CPS offered no evidence against a further eight defendants facing similar charges. Reported in London Evening Standard.