Extinction Rebellion protesters outside St Albans Magistrates Court on Monday. Credit: PA A trial over an Extinction Rebellion protest that blocked deliveries of some of the UK’s major newspapers had to be paused after an activist glued himself to the dock and filmed inside a courtroom. Six defendants appeared at St Albans Magistrates Court on Monday accused of obstruction of the highway in relation to a demonstration at the Newsprinters printing works in Broxbourne on September 4 last year. But the trial was paused for two hours after Liam Norton glued himself to a table in the courtroom and began filming on his iPhone.
Extinction Rebellion protesters told a court they blocked newspaper deliveries because of Rupert Murdoch's media "control" and a lack of climate coverage.
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image captionThe trial at St Albans Magistrates Court has been delayed for a second time in as many days
Workers were stuck at a newspaper printing plant for up to seven hours after members of Extinction Rebellion staged a protest outside the main gates, a court heard.
A group erected two bamboo structures and parked two vans across the entrance to The Sun s printing plant in Hertfordshire on 4 September.
It is estimated the blockade stopped 3.5 million newspapers being delivered.
Six defendants deny a charge of wilfully obstructing a highway.
The trial at St Albans Magistrates Court was delayed for a second time in as many days as one of the accused, Sally Davidson, left the court room after judge Sally Fudge said her co-defendant Liam Norton would be tried in his absence.
Extinction Rebellion protesters told police to “get Rupert Murdoch” as they blocked deliveries of some of the UK’s major newspapers with bamboo structures.
Six defendants appeared at St Albans Magistrates’ Court on Monday accused of obstruction of the highway in relation to a demonstration at the Newsprinters printing works in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, on September 4 2020.
Appearing in court were Liam Norton, 36, of Esplanade Gardens, Scarborough, Eleanor Bujak, 28 of Bracey Street, London, Sally Davidson, 33 of Byards Croft, London, James Ozden, 35 of The Avenue, London, Timothy Speers, 35 of Rosswyld Lodge, Waltham Forest and Morgan Trowland, 38 of Massie Road, London.
The Newsprinters presses publish the Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp’s titles including the Sun, Times, Sun On Sunday and Sunday Times, as well as the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, the Daily Mail and Mail On Sunday, and the London Evening Standard.
Sally Davidson stormed out of St Albans Magistrates Court on trial s second day
Yesterday, defendant Liam Norton claimed to have glued his hand to a table
Court was cleared while security staff dealt with issue before resuming again
Norton will now be tried in his absence after police arrested him for disturbance
Norton and five others are charged with wilful obstruction of highway in relation to an XR protest and the disruption of the distribution of national newspapers