Parliament Square evictions case reaches appeal court
A legal battle to evict peace campaigners from historic Parliament Square Gardens is to reach the Court of Appeal.
Three judges in London will be asked by protesters to grant them leave to challenge an earlier High Court ruling giving London's Mayor Boris Johnson the right to remove them.
Their applications will be heard by the Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger, Lady Justice Arden and Lord Justice Stanley Burnton.
Last week a Court of Appeal judge granted a "stay" on enforcement notices pending Friday's proceedings.
In making her decision, Lady Justice Smith described it as a "matter of some real public importance".
Orders for eviction were granted by Mr Justice Griffith Williams who concluded that the Mayor - in deciding to exclude demonstrators from the site - had "directed himself correctly, considered all the relevant matters and reached a reasoned decision which cannot be criticised".
The judge said there was a pressing social need not to permit an indefinite camped protest on the site for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others to access all of Parliament Square Gardens and demonstrate with authorisation - but also importantly for the protection of health.
