This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18231290#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Court hears pre-royal wedding raid case Police 'suppressed anti-Royalism during Royal Wedding'
(about 14 hours later)
A legal challenge by environmental campaigners against a Met Police raid on the eve of last year's royal wedding is due to begin at the High Court. The Metropolitan Police effectively "suppressed anti-monarchist sentiment" during the Royal Wedding in London last year, the High Court has been told.
Scotland Yard, which has not commented on the case, believed paint bombs may have been in the area of the raid. None was found. Some 20 individuals arrested or subjected to searches before or on the wedding day are arguing in court that police operated an unlawful policy.
They claim it violated the fundamental democratic right to protest.
Activists say the case has major implications for the policing of the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.
However, Lord Justice Richards suggested the court's ruling was likely to come too late to affect policing of the Jubilee.
The applicants say they were pre-emptively arrested ahead of the Royal Wedding, on 29 April last year.
Police officers said they suspected them of being about to commit breaches of the peace.
Scotland Yard, which has not commented on the case, believed paint bombs may have been in the area of the raid - but none was found.
Theodora Middleton and Daffyd Lewis allege that police misled a judge in order to obtain a search warrant.Theodora Middleton and Daffyd Lewis allege that police misled a judge in order to obtain a search warrant.
The case highlights pre-emptive policing ahead of national events. 'Most important right'
The pair live on the Grow Heathrow environmental camp, set up some two years ago on the site of the proposed third runway at Heathrow airport. Karon Monaghan QC, appearing for 15 of those arrested, said the signal for their release from custody was "the balcony kiss" of the royal couple.
The day before the royal wedding in April 2011, the camp was raided and residents detained. She claimed the Met "operated a policy of equating intention to protest, whether perceived or actual, with intention to cause unlawful disruption".
The judicial review of the police action involves the claim that in order to obtain a search warrant, the police misled a court by saying that extremists and possibly paint bombs were on the site. Ms Monaghan said the issues at stake were "the most important of constitutional rights, namely the rights to free expression and to protest, both of which are elemental to a properly functioning democracy".
She argued police "adopted an impermissibly low threshold of tolerance for public protest, resulting in the unlawful arrests of those who were viewed by officers as being likely to express anti-monarchist views".
BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman says with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee one week away and the Olympics this summer, the case could set the tone for the balance between pre-emptive policing and the protection of civil liberties, in the run-up to major national events.BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman says with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee one week away and the Olympics this summer, the case could set the tone for the balance between pre-emptive policing and the protection of civil liberties, in the run-up to major national events.
The case continues.