Hundreds of prosecutions dropped as Metropolitan Police concede Extinction Rebellion challenge

The Crown Prosecution Service has, this week, started to discontinue hundreds of criminal prosecutions arising out of the Extinction Rebellion “Autumn Uprising” protests in London in October 2019.

On 14 October 2019, a senior officer of the Metropolitan Police imposed a condition on assemblies linked to the Extinction Rebellion “Autumn Uprising”, requiring all such protests to cease.  The Divisional Court ruled that decision unlawful in R (Jones and others) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2019] EWHC 2957 (Admin) on 6 November 2019.

Following the judgment of the Divisional Court, five Extinction Rebellion protesters brought a challenge to an earlier police decision, on 8 October 2019, that required all Extinction Rebellion protests to move to Trafalgar Square.  On 26 November 2019, the Metropolitan Police Service conceded that the 8 October 2019 decision was also unlawful.  Hundreds of Extinction Rebellion protesters were facing prosecution for breaching the 8 October 2019.  In the light of the Metropolitan Police’s concession, those prosecutions are now being discontinued.

Jude Bunting acted in both Extinction Rebellion challenges, instructed by Jules Carey at Bindmans.

For more information, press coverage can be found here: The Guardian, The Extinction Rebellion Press Release