Six XR members guilty of printing blockade

SIX Extinction Rebellion protesters on trial for blockading the printing press of some of the UK’S major newspapers have been found guilty.

The activists appeared at St Albans Magistrates’ Court yesterday accused of obstructing the highway outside Newsprinters printing works in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, on September 4, 2020.

Judge Sally Fudge convicted the defendants, saying that while the demonstration was “peaceful” it had a significant impact on the ability of businesses to function and caused newspapers to lose an estimated £1 million.

The court heard how on the night of September 4 through until the next day, around 50 XR members used vehicles and bamboo structures, to deny access to or from the Broxbourne site.

Those involved were targeting certain parts of the print media who, according to the defendants, “failed to accurately report on the climate crisis and are guilty of corruption”.

The Newsprinters presses publish the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp’s titles including the Sun, Times, Sun On Sunday and Sunday Times, as well as the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail and Mail On Sunday, and the London Evening Standard.

This is the second trial, and it involved defendants Caspar Hughes, 49, of Exeter; Elise Yarde, 32, of Walthamstow; Amir Jones, 39, of London; Laura Frandsen, 30, of London; Charlotte Kirin, 51, of Bury St Edmunds; and Hazel Stenson, 56, of Bury St Edmunds.

All six, apart from Frandsen, were given a conditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £150 to the court.

Frandsen, who has two previous convictions, was ordered to pay a financial penalty of £150, and to pay the court £150.