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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/02/trial-begins-for-anti-deportation-activists-accused-of-blocking-stansted-flight

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Activists accused of blocking Stansted flight go on trial Activists accused of blocking Stansted flight go on trial over terror charge
(about 4 hours later)
Fifteen anti-deportation activists have gone on trial charged with blocking the night-time takeoff of an immigration removal charter flight at Stansted airport. Fifteen activists who locked themselves together around an immigration removal charter flight to stop its departure from Stansted and displayed a banner proclaiming “mass deportations kill” have gone on trial charged with a terrorist offence.
The defendants, from the campaign group End Deportations, locked themselves together around the landing gear of a Boeing 767 chartered by the Home Office to remove undocumented migrants to several African countries, Chelmsford crown court, in Essex, heard. Jurors at Chelmsford crown court heard how the members of the campaign group End Deportations used lock-on devices to secure themselves around the Boeing 767, chartered by the Home Office, as it waited on the tarmac at the Essex airport to remove undocumented migrants to Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone.
They have said they acted to prevent human rights abuses, and have received high-profile political backing. However, the Crown alleges that they put the safety of the airport and passengers at risk, and caused serious disruption to international travel. The activists have said they acted to prevent human rights abuses from taking place and have received high-profile political backing. However, they are accused of putting the safety of the airport and passengers at risk, and causing serious disruption to international air travel. If convicted, they face potential life imprisonment.
Amnesty International UK is sending representatives to observe the trial. It is concerned that the use of a law introduced after the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 is “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut” and that the charge may have been brought to deter other activists from taking similar nonviolent direct action to defend human rights. Amnesty International UK is sending representatives to observe the trial over concerns that the serious charge has been brought to deter other activists from taking similar non-violent direct action to defend human rights. Kate Allen, its director, likened the use of the law to “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.”
The court heard that on the night of the protest in March a number of undocumented migrants had been due to depart from Stansted on a flight operated by Titan Airways. The protest took place on the night of 28 March 2017, with the activists cutting a 1 sq m hole in the airport’s perimeter fence, Chelmsford crown court heard. Jurors saw videos from CCTV cameras and a police helicopter that showed how four protesters arranged themselves around the front landing gear of the aircraft and locked their arms together inside double-layered pipes filled with expanding foam.
“During the evening, the Boeing 767 was due on a charter flight,” Tony Badenoch QC, for the prosecution, told the court. “It had been chartered by the Home Office … The plane was due to transport a number of passengers for repatriation to Nigeria, Ghana, and in one case Sierra Leone.” Further back, a second group of protesters erected a 2m-high tripod from scaffolding poles behind the engine on the left wing of an aircraft, on which one perched while others locked themselves to the base to prevent it being moved, the videos showed. In the moments before police arrived, they were able to display their banners, one of which said: “No one is illegal.”
The 15 defendants used wirecutters to cut a square-metre hole in the airport’s perimeter fence, through which they gained access to an area forbidden to the public, Badenoch said. Tony Badenoch QC, for the prosecution, told the court the protest led to the shutdown of the airport runway for an hour and 20 minutes. Outbound planes were delayed and inbound flights were diverted to other airports across England. It took the removal team until 8am the next morning to free the protesters one by one.
The protesters linked arms inside plastic tubes, which they filled with expandable, fast-setting builders’ foam to create a human barrier that stopped the plane taking off. “If the fence is breached, and if suddenly there is access airside in the pitch black to an unknown number of people with an unknown purpose who are not immediately brought under control, the airport cannot operate safely and safety cannot be agreed to runway users,” he said. “It is therefore necessary to close the runway until such time as the situation is clearer, or at the very least contained.”
The incursion led to the shutdown of the airport and the diversion of inbound planes to other airports across England. Badenoch claimed the diversion of armed officers from security duties in the terminal building made the airport more vulnerable at a time when the UK terrorism threat level was classed as “severe”, meaning an attack was considered highly likely.
Badenoch said: “If the fence is breached, and if suddenly there is access airside in the pitch black to an unknown number of people with an unknown purpose who are not immediately brought under control, the airport cannot operate safely and safety cannot be agreed to runway users. It is therefore necessary to close the runway until such time as the situation is clearer, or at the very least contained.” “In order to deal with this incursion, a number of armed officers already at Stansted had to ‘down arm’, thus reducing the capacity of police to carry out their duties at the terminal,” he said.
The plane targeted by the protesters was parked at stand 505, in an area of Stansted reserved for private charters. “Had another major incident occurred at the terminal at the same time, the police resources able to respond to it would have been reduced.”
Helen Brewer, Lyndsay Burtonshaw, Nathan Clack, Laura Clayson, Mel Evans, Joseph McGahan, Benjamin Smoke, Jyotsna Ram, Nicholas Sigsworth, Alistair Temlit, Edward Thacker, Emma Hughes, May McKeith, Ruth Potts, and Melanie Stickland are charged with intentional disruption of services at an aerodrome. Helen Brewer, Lyndsay Burtonshaw, Nathan Clack, Laura Clayson, Mel Evans, Joseph McGahan, Benjamin Smoke, Jyotsna Ram, Nicholas Sigsworth, Alistair Temlit, Edward Thacker, Emma Hughes, May McKeith, Ruth Potts and Melanie Stickland are charged with intentional disruption of services at an aerodrome under the 1990 Aviation and Maritime Security Act, a law passed in response to the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. The defendants, aged 27 to 44, have all pleaded not guilty.
The trial, which is due to last between six and eight weeks, continues. The trial, which is due to last six to eight weeks, continues.
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