Those of you with long memories will recall that back in April 2010 British police arrested 114 climate change protesters on the allegation that they may, at some point in the future, attempt to commit a crime by shutting down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station. After the furore over pre-emptive arrest and the right to protest had died down the police very quietly admitted that they had no case whatsoever against 90 of those arrested. It also emerged that one of the key conspirators who played a central role in suggesting and organising the protest was a man known as Mark Stone. Mark Stone's real name was Mark Kennedy who was a serving officer with the Metropolitan police who had been working undercover in protest groups for the last ten years.
Despite the clear suggestion of entrapment the trial of 18 of the protesters went ahead against the backdrop of the COP16 Climate Change Summit. Before and during this trial the defence made repeated requests to have the role of the undercover police officer presented to the jury but all these requests were refused and all 18 were convicted. Today (10/1) the trial of the remaining 6 protesters was set to begin but there was a sudden change of heart and it was decided that evidence of the undercover police officer would be allowed. This caused the prosecution to withdraw their case and the trial collapsed.
Obviously this sudden change of heart was a response to the arraignment hearing that is due to take place later today in America of Jared Loughner who I suppose could be described as a "political protester" if you stretch the term to absolute breaking point. Also Spanish terror group ETA have called for a ceasefire.
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