University fails to silence citywide protest
Oxford University failed in its first bid to extend the injunction against animal rights protesters to include the whole city during recent High Court proceedings. Presiding judge Mr Justice Holland ruled that altering the existing injunction, which restricts protests around the site of the South Parks Road research lab to a four-hour weekly period and forbids photography of the building, to include a blanket ban on protests would be irresponsible.
The University’s QC, Charles Flint, argued that as university buildings are spread throughout Oxford and that the whole university is the target of intimidation, harassment restrictions on protesters should be extended to cover the whole city. Presiding judge Mr Justice Holland was unconvinced and intends to consult with Oxford’s police force, as well as visiting the city, before proceedings resume with the next hearing on May 18th.
He said, “I am wholly unwilling to get involved in these issues without being advised as to the views of the relevant senior officer of the Thames Valley Police. It would be irresponsible of me to get involved without understanding what the position of the police is.’’ Flint warns that things are going to become “more serious”, and that the university is considering going ahead with a full court trial.
The university has, however, succeeded in its attempt to ban protesters from gathering or picketing within a 100 yard radius of the Examination Schools or of Ewert House in Summertown between 18th April and 20th July 2006 and between 10th September and 31st October 2006.
Justice Holland deemed this a “reasonable and justified response” A spokesperson for the University said, “We are pleased that the Court has recognised that the examination period is a stressful enough time for students without the additional concerns of noise, disturbance and abuse from campaigners “It is particularly important that our students, who have worked hard over a number of years, should be given the opportunity to sit their exams in peace.
Tom Mountford, a finalist studying Modern History, told The Oxford Student: “I’m glad that the high court have recognized that this has become a campaign of intimidation, and I’ll be relieved to have peace of mind during my exams this summer.” The courts refused to widen the original injunction, which dates from November 2004, to include protection of “donors” to the university.
Justice Holland ruled that the terminology, described as “speculative and breathtakingly wide” would be too vague for police to enforce. He added that, since donors are normally companies or other large organisations, it was within their means to seek individual injunctions, rather than the blanket restriction proposed.
Protests are currently restricted to the four hours between 1 and 5pm on Thursdays in the area opposite the site of the £20 million research lab, and no klaxons, sirens, whistles, other noise amplifiers or cameras are permitted within the designated exclusion zone. The judge he substituted the current provision with an order banning all protest aids except for a megaphone which can only be used between the hours of 1pm and 2pm.
Robert Cogswell of the SPEAK campaign is optimistic about the judge’s ruling: “We are pleased that the British legal system don’t believe everything they hear, and glad that they are open to both sides of the argument.” Mr Justice Holland was shown DVDs of extreme protest behaviour, which he found “daunting viewing”.
Of the ten witness statements read to Justice Holland, complained about the effect of protests on their lives, and even one person who is sympathetic to the cause labelled them “intolerable”. Roman Popat, an undergraduate and founder of the “Don’t Speak, Spunk • Silencing Animals Rights Protests and Activism” facebook group, believes that, “We desperately need reconciliation.
However, animal rights protestors are often indiscriminate, aggressive and offensive and if they don’t reexamine their approach then an injunction is the only thing which can protect the public from unnecessary anxiety.”
20th Apr 2006