Court rules last protester can be evicted from Parliament Square

 
27 April 2012

Parliament Square is set to be cleared of its last protesters after Westminster council won a High Court ruling today.

Two judges rejected a last-ditch bid by veteran peace campaigner Maria Gallastegui to block new council bylaws that allow it to remove tents and sleeping equipment from the road and pavement around the square.

The council says it will talk to Ms Gallastegui before sending in a clearance team but she could be gone within days — achieving the ambition of removing what many regard as an eye-sore before the Diamond jubilee and Olympics.

However, there is a slight chance she could be granted the right to take her case to the Court of Appeal, allowing her to remain on site until a final ruling.

Ms Gallastegui had been conducting an authorised 24-hour vigil on the east pavement of Parliament Square since 2006 and had obtained an injunction against the council preventing it from enforcing the bylaws.

But Sir John Thomas, who is president of the Queen’s Bench Division, sitting with Mr Justice Silber, said the rules were “plainly” lawful and did not offend against the Human Rights Act.

Westminster council leader Philippa Roe said the news would be welcomed by visitors and residents alike as the world heritage site could now be “returned to its former glory”.

“For too long this green public space has been blighted by tents and encampments which have restricted the use of publicly owned land, but we have worked hard to find a solution without prohibiting the rights for free speech and protests.”

The council gained power in March, under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act, to ban tents and, with police, remove protesters and any equipment used for noisy protests.

The laws do not ban future protests, only people camping out. The camp started in 2001 when Brian Haw began a protest against the Iraq war. Mr Haw, who died last June, did not use a tent.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in