A man has pleaded not guilty to violent disorder and to the criminal damage of a police carrier after a demonstration outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Essex.
Charlie Land, of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, denied a charge of violent disorder said to have happened in Epping on July 17, during a brief hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday.
Land, 23, also pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal damage. It is alleged that he damaged a police carrier belonging to the Metropolitan Police on the same date.
Judge Jamie Sawyer said there was an allegation that the defendant kicked the wing mirror of a police carrier, jumped on the bonnet and kicked the windscreen, causing it to crack, and threw a traffic cone.
Land was bailed until a further case management hearing at the same court on September 22, when a date for trial will be considered.
Multiple demonstrations have been held outside The Bell Hotel in Epping since July 13, after an asylum seeker was charged with the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl.
His trial began last week and is due to conclude later this week.
