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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
National
Matt Watts

Charges dropped against Pro-Palestine activists accused of disrupting Gal Gadot filming in London

Charges have been dropped against eight people accused of disrupting the filming of a movie starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot in central London.

The activists were meant to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday to enter pleas.

But, it emerged that the case has been discontinued after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Metropolitan Police decided the evidence did not meet the "threshold" for a prosecution.

Between April and May, officers arrested eight people following reports of "repeated disruption" at "filming locations" across London.

During this time, Gal Gadot was in the city shooting her action thriller, The Runner.

The 40-year-old has been vocal in her support of Israel and the Met said at the time that the film was targeted "solely because an actress involved in the production is Israeli".

Eight people were charged with offences of watching or besetting a house or place to compel the abstention or doing of a lawful act, which falls under the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act.

James Cooper, 73, Jacob Harwood, 24, Thomas Mummery, 31, Anika Zahir, 48, Pedro Baptista, 45, Ghazala Muhammad, 57, Anthony Molloy, 68, and Muhammad Khaled, 22, were due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court court for a plea hearing on Tuesday.

Gal Gadot poses with her star at a ceremony honoring her on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

One of the protesters, Anika Zahir, posted on her Facebook account on Monday: "Breaking news: we have just been informed by our lawyers that our case for the Gal Gadot has been dropped!"

In a video, shared on her public profile "Ani Says", Ms Zahir said: "So the 'Gal Gadot eight' court trial, the case has been dropped - I kid you not.

"I was due in tomorrow for the second plea hearing, because, remember, on the first one, they had to postpone it because the CPS wanted to do more investigations.

"Well they did, and they were like, 'What the hell police, what have you brought to our doors? And we're not taking it to court. We have wasted enough money. We're not going to carry on'."

It is understood that after the initial charge, the CPS sought more evidence on the case.

Ultimately, this further evidence was not available and so the case was discontinued, and the charges were dropped.

A Met Police spokesperson said: "Between April and May, officers arrested eight people following reports of repeated disruption at filming locations in central London.

"They were charged under the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992 in October.

"Detectives from the Met's Public Order Command continued their investigation to gather all available evidence.

"However in November, in consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, it was concluded that the evidence did not meet the standard threshold set by the CPS for the case to continue.

"The charges against eight individuals were subsequently dropped on Tuesday, 18 November at Westminster Magistrates' Court."

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