Trial halted after XR protester glues himself to dock

Judge halts XR trial on first day as one of six activists accused of blocking newspaper deliveries GLUES himself to dock and starts filming on iPhone

  • Defendant Liam Norton ranted in court accusing the judge of breaking the law
  • Wearing eye mask, Norton then claimed to have glued his left hand to the table
  • Court was cleared while security staff dealt with issue before resuming again
  • 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

The trial of six extinction rebellion protestors accused of disrupting the distribution of national newspapers was thrown into disruption this morning when one of the defendants glued his hand to a table in the courtroom.

The case had just been called on and the judge had taken her seat when accused, Liam Norton, got to his feet to rant in court, yelling out ‘I would like to make clear what is going on in this court is obvious and complete criminality.’

He went on: ‘Judge, what you are going is illegal.’

With the palm of his left hand on a table, he continued: ‘What we have seen over decades is organised criminality in this country and unfortunately the only thing to do, as I have showed, is contempt, as you have.’

Norton, whose eyes were hidden behind a mask, then revealed to security staff who entered the courtroom at St Albans Magistrates Court, that in fact his flat hand on the table, had been glued to the surface.

Protesters outside St Albans Magistrates’ Court, where XR activists who were arrested during blockade of News Corp printing works in Hertfordshire on September 4 2020 are due in court

As he continued his rant against the government, cheering, singing and clapping broke out from his supporters in the public gallery.

He told his supporters and others in court: ‘I am left with no option but to disobey and show contempt.’

District Judge Sally Fudge then left courtroom number six and the gallery was cleared as security staff dealt with the situation.

The six due to stand trial, who were alleged to have been part of an Extinction Rebellion protest which blockaded a newspaper print works preventing the distribution of three and a half million papers, are: Liam Norton, 36, from Scarborough, Eleanor Davidson, 33, from Streatham, London, James Ozden, 35, from Tottenham, London, Tim Speers, 25, from Waltham Forest, Morgan Trowland, 38, of Hackney, London and Eleanor Bujak, 28, of Finsbury Park, London.

All are charged with the wilful obstruction of the highway.

In all, 51 people were charged with obstructing the highway following the blockade of the Newsprinters printworks in Great Eastern Road, Waltham Cross. 

XR action saw protesters targeting Newsprinters printing works at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, and Knowsley, near Liverpool, blocking the day’s newspapers from leaving the depots 

During the protest last September, activists used vehicles and bamboo lock-ons to block roads near Newsprinters’ Broxbourne site.

A second blockade of the company’s printing works in Knowsley, near Liverpool, took place on the same day.

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.

It meant readers were delayed in receiving, or did not receive their copies of their respective newspapers.

Extinction Rebellion claimed at the time the demonstration was in response to the newspapers’ failure to report on the climate and ecological emergency.

In his impromptu speech in the courtroom, Mr Norton said ‘Society is on the brink of collapse and the Crown Prosecution Service continue to criminalise protests.

‘Corruption is flowing through the highest levels of our system, yet our system continues to criminalise us.’

The case is proceeding.

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