A judge has dismissed an assault charge against a former deputy chair of the Liberal Democrats and supporter of Occupy Democracy, saying she was not going to waste any more time on the case.
In an abrupt end to proceedings at Westminster magistrates court, deputy district judge Claire Evans threw out the charge of assaulting a security guard after hearing Donnachadh McCarthy give half an hour of testimony about a protest in December in Parliament Square.
The square had been fenced off on the weekend of 20-21 December while Occupy Democracy – an offshoot of the Occupy movement – was holding its third protest in Parliament Square. Demonstrators had breached low-level fencing on Saturday evening.
At the time, McCarthy was holding a placard with the slogan “Arrest Nick Clegg for Selling Stolen Peerages” as part of his protest against what he sees as the corrupt peerages system. He told the court that he was standing near the fence when a protester jumped over it.
McCarthy said: “This stupid idiot ran towards me and Michael Swain [the security guard], who was to my right behind me. I dropped the placard to grab the protester, to get the man out of the way of the security guard. I had no intention of hitting Swain. I bumped into him.”
At this point, the judge stopped him. She said: “I am entirely satisfied with this explanation. I was leaning in that direction and I am not going to waste any more time.”
Evans said physical contact between the two men might have been interpreted as an assault by Swain, but concluded that the contact had been entirely accidental.
In his testimony, Swain alleged that McCarthy had stuck an arm out, hitting him in the chest, to stop him reaching the protester as he was climbing over the fence.
McCarthy said afterwards: “I am relieved and I am pleased the issue of corrupt peerages has been raised in court for the first time. I will continue to campaign until such time as this corruption in all political parties comes to an end.”
The outcome is the latest setback for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in its attempt to convict Occupy Democracy protesters who have demonstrated in Parliament Square.
The first trial that went to court saw four cases leading to acquittal, with the second case, involving eight defendants, being dropped as a result. These were to do with people sitting on a tarpaulin and the tarpaulin being considered a prohibited item “designed or adapted” for sleeping.
The third trial concerned a single protester holding a banner without having sought written permission from the London mayor, Boris Johnson, and without public liability insurance. The CPS dropped that case a day before trial.
McCarthy, the author of the Prostitute State, said he believed the Greater London authority and the Metropolitan police were targeting Occupy Democracy.
He said: “Someone at the top of the GLA and the Met has decided that no way will they tolerate Occupy protests at Parliament Square. They have spent £2m of public money trying to prevent a few people protesting. What is so threatening about Occupy Democracy? The real issue is the capture of democracy by corporate lobbyists.”
