The British Airports Authority has failed in its attempts to gain a legal injunction to squash next week's camp for climate action. They had originally applied for a wide-ranging injunction which would have barred all members of specified environmental groups - over 5 million people - from the vicinity of the airport, local roads, and the London underground. Instead, they were limited to banning three people and a group called Plane Stupid from trespassing on their property - something they're not allowed to do anyway. And then to top it all off, BAA was ordered to pay costs for its egregious assault on free speech.
It's a solid victory for freedom of speech, and for the right to protest. It will also have wider effects. Such injunctions are apparently routinely used against animal rights activists, but BAA's overreaching has created a precedent that the Protection from Harassment Act does not apply to peaceful protest, and that companies and organisations applying to prevent such a protest will have to prove that there is an unlawful purpose to a criminal standard of proof. In other words, you can't injunct unless you can already prosecute. So much for the corporate ASBO...
