Extinction Rebellion protesters staged a demonstration outside court today where 24 people are due to appear accused of disrupting the distribution of national newspapers.
Hertfordshire Police charged 51 people with obstruction after more than 100 protesters targeted Newsprinters printing works at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, and Knowsley, near Liverpool, on September 4.
Roads were blocked and XR protesters chained themselves to structures in a demonstration that lasted from 10pm that Friday to 11am the next morning.
It meant newspapers including the Daily Mail, The Times and the Daily Telegraph were not distributed on time, causing delays for readers to receive their copies. Some readers did not receive that day's copy of their newspaper.
XR protesters staged a demonstration outside St Albans Magistrates' Court today where 24 people are due to appear accused of disrupting the distribution of national newspapers
More than 100 protesters targeted Newsprinters printing works at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, and Knowsley, near Liverpool, on September 4. Roads were blocked and XR protesters chained themselves to structures. The blockade disrupted the distribution of newspapers
XR claimed that it was using the disruption to 'expose' newspapers' 'failure to report on the climate and ecological emergency'.
They alleged: 'Coverage in many of the newspapers printed here is polluting national debate on climate change, immigration policy, the rights and treatment of minority groups, and on dozens of other issues.'
However, critics including Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the blockade an attack on the free press.
The Home Secretary has ordered a review of the law aimed at toughening sentences for the environmental extremists after they blockaded newspaper print works in a bid to stifle free speech.
XR protesters pictured blocking access to Newsprinters printing plant at Broxbourne
Options being considered include designating the group as an organised crime gang, which would leave militants open to the threat of up to five years in jail.
In total, 77 people have been charged for the disruption at both printing sites.
Today 24 people are due to appear before District Judge Gillian Allison at St Albans Magistrates' Court in batches of three. They are:
