Activists barred from badger protest

A High Court judge granted an injunction today that will allow people to protest peacefully against the controversial badger cull within the trial culling zones, but bar a handful of named hardcore activists from the area.

As the National Farmers Union (NFU) prepares for the start of the badger cull on Monday night, it had sought an injunction that would have prevented anybody from protesting within a 100 metres of the zones in West Somerset and West Gloucershire.

It requested that named individuals – such as Jay Tiernan of Stop The Cull and Dave Peel of Squat The Cull – be barred from the zones, along with “person’s unknown”, a category the NFU defined in its injunction application as “any person protesting against the cull”.

However, while the judge allowed the injunction against named individuals who are well known for their aggressive campaigning, they refused to impose restrictions on anybody else.

“For acts not on the face of it unlawful I have to strike a balance between lawful business activity and the right to protest,” the judge said.