Three punished over Palestine protest outside JCB

THREE protesters who lay down outside the entrance of a JCB site, blocking the road for three hours, have been punished.

Christopher Birch, Dr Susannah O’sullivan and Robert Nicholls said they had “locked themselves together” during a protest at the Foston site, in September last year.

Staff at the site were forced to cut a hole in one of their hedges in a bid to get their vehicles through.

Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court heard how all three defendants admitted they were at the site that day, but pleaded not guilty to the charge put before them.

District Judge Jonathan Taaffe, who presided over the trial, found each of the defendants guilty.

Mark Fielding, prosecuting, outlined the case to the court.

He said: “We know that JCB company make engines for their diggers (at that site) and that the three defendants protested outside the front entrance.

“It started at 8.35am and the three defendants were purported to be locked on. They weren’t locked together. It was a ruse.” The court heard how the police cutting team were deployed “3.5 hours” later.

During that time, access to and from the site was prevented and staff at JCB had to cut a hole in one of their hedges to get through.

The hearing revealed how the three defendants all “self-released” once the police arrived and they were all arrested, giving “no comment” during their police interviews.

The campaign group, known as Stop the Demolitions, alleges that JCB machinery is being used by the Israeli authorities to “demolish” the village of Khan al-ahmar.

Birch, who gave evidence during the trial, said he had published his experiences of being in the country under a pen name. He said: “I was staying in Palestine with a friend. In preparation of the demolition taking place, I saw JCB machinery being used.

“I returned to Khan al-ahmar to take part in civil disobedience. JCB machinery (was) being used on several occasions.”

The court heard how letters had been sent to JCB, the UN and other organisations by the group. Birch stated there were no responses from JCB.

Speaking about the protest in September, he said: “The action we took was intended to grab the company’s attention, to persuade the company to stop their complicity through doing what was in their power to prevent it.” Nicholls had not been to Palestine, but he had been asked to take part and said yes.

District Judge Taaffe found each of the three defendants guilty of hindering JCB in the use of their plant at Foston.

Birch, 38, of Pahitos, Mytitene, Greece; Nicholls, 61, of St Nicholas Road, St Pauls, Bristol; and Dr O’sullivan, 32, of Whitehall Road, Bristol, were each handed a two-year conditional discharge.

They also had to pay costs and a victim surcharge.

Each defendant said they were “disappointed” with the result and would be appealing the decision.

JCB did not wish to comment about the incident in September 2018.