13.
On 14 April 2024, AR posted a statement following the death of a horse at Aintree
Racecourse asserting that AR will ‘continue to call out the cruelty and lies’ in the horse racing industry. 9 AR also posted on its Facebook page accusing the Grand National of attempting to ‘rewrite history’ and ‘scrambling for a PR win’ following the death of two horses. 10
14.
In the ‘previous campaigns’ section of AR’s website, AR’s actions at the Grand National
are detailed under the heading ‘2023 Summer of Animal Rising’. AR state that the
actions of its protesters at the Grand National ‘achieved 9 front -pages and hours of
broadcast air- time’ and that they ‘disrupted three more horse racing events, occupied
an intensive dairy farm, rescued three sheep from the King’s land, demonstrated outside
half of the UK’s remaining greyhound racetracks and dropped a banner a t the
Greyhound Derby Final. ’ 11
15.
AR, accordingly, continues to trumpet the ‘success’ of its disrupting of horse/dog racing
events. I note that a video featuring Alex Lockwood, a co-founder of AR, who looks back
on AR’s ‘achievements’ in 2023 , which is referred to in the Second Witness Statement of Nevin Truesdale, remains on AR’s YouTube channel , which has 3,250 subscribers 12 .
In that video, Mr Lockwood champions protest action at the 2023 Grand National, and
the 2023 Derby in spite of the Interim Injunction Order. Mr Lockwood states that the
Ninth Defendant’s actions at the 2023 Derby created AR’s ”biggest ever press day” and helped the group to further its aims and agenda. 13
Recent Protests at Sporting Events
16.
I note also that the attraction of sporting events as a publicity vehicle for protean protest
groups has very recently been underscored when, on 24 June 2024, protesters from the
group Extinction Rebellion delayed the final round of the KLM Golf Open by blocking
the entrance in Amsterdam. Later that day, protesters from the same group ran onto the
18 th green at TPC River Highlands in the Travelers Championship, throwing red and white powder onto the green. 14
I believe that the facts stated in this witness statement are true. I understand that proceedings for
contempt of court may be brought against anyone who makes, or causes to be made, a false
statement in a document verified by a statement of truth without an honest belief in its truth.
9 Pages 524 to 525 of JDR2 10 Page 526 of JDR2 11 Page 527 of JDR2 12 Page 528 of JDR2 13 Pages 474 of JDR2 14 Pages 529 to 534 of JDR2
4
6
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