MR JUSTICE NICKLIN Approved Judgment
MBR Acres Ltd -v- Curtin
to clear the obstruction of the highway. It appears to me that, in the incident on 15 August 2021, the police had closed the road. I am not criticising the decisions of the police in these incidents. It is an important part of policing demonstrations for police officers (both individual officers on the ground and senior officers in their strategic decision-making) to assess the extent to which the police need to use their undoubted powers to control what are essentially public order issues. 329. In summary, the evidence shows that this is some risk, perhaps diminished since the height of the demonstrations in 2021, that “Persons Unknown” will congregate in such numbers outside the Wyton Site that they cause a public nuisance. I will deal below whether the Court’s response to that risk, in these proceedings, should be to grant any form of contra mundum order. L: Evidence from the police 330. At an earlier stage of the proceedings, evidence was provided to the Court by a senior police officer, Superintendent Sissons, who was responsible for policing the protest activities at the Wyton Site. I set out this evidence in the Second Injunction Variation Judgment on 22 December 2022 [43]-[51] and Appendix. 331. Based in part on Superintendent Sissons evidence, I declined to vary the Interim Injunction: [76] … unless the Claimants can demonstrate a clear case for an injunction, in my judgment it is better to leave any alleged wrongdoing to be dealt with by the police. Officers on the ground are much better placed to make the difficult decisions as to the balancing of the competing rights (see Injunction Judgment [85] and [96]). [77] The evidence from Superintendent Sissons shows that this is precisely what the police are doing. There is no complaint from the Claimants that the police are failing in their duties or that the targeted measures taken by the police have been ineffective. Arrests are being made of some protestors, including it appears those engaged on protests at Impex, and several people have been charged. Appropriate use of bail conditions or, upon conviction, restraining orders will restrict further unlawful acts of individuals more effectively and on a targeted basis. [78] Arrests for offences under s.14 Public Order Act 1986 suggest that the police have already utilised their powers to impose conditions on public assemblies. I appreciate that the Claimants contend that, notwithstanding the efforts of the police, some people are continuing to break the law. The issue for the Claimants is that, before meaningful relief can be granted by way of civil injunction, it is necessary to identify the alleged wrongdoers so that they can be joined to the proceedings. 332. The Claimants’ evidence at trial has not demonstrated that the police are failing to respond appropriately to any threats posed by the protestors. In my judgment, and as I have observed before, proportionate use, by police officers making decisions based on an assessment ‘on-the-ground’, of the powers available to them, adjudged to be necessary and targeted at particular individuals, is immeasurably more likely to strike the proper balance between the demonstrators’ rights of freedom of
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