Case thrown out after Labour council attempts to jail Green councillor
27 October 2017
A judge has thrown out a case against Green Party councillor Alison Teal for protesting against the felling of healthy trees in Sheffield [1].
The Labour-run Sheffield City Council had accused Teal and other protesters of breaking the injunction the council had taken out against them [2] and asked for custodial sentences.
Natalie Bennett, Green Party former leader, was in court for the hearing. She said:
“I welcome today’s decision by the judge, which confirms Alison acted lawfully in supporting the people she was elected to represent in trying to save healthy, valuable street trees. Sheffield’s Labour City Council has put considerable resources into pursuing Alison and I think the people of the city will be asking why it chose to do that.”
Notes:
- https://twitter.com/helenpidd/status/923902485378600960
- https://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/2017/08/15/greens-condemn-high-court-ruling-against-sheffield-tree-protesters/
- Protester Calvin Payne has been found to have breached the injunction and will be sentenced on Friday, November 3. The case against protester Siobhan O’Malley has been postponed for a week.