Now They Are Prosecuting Protestors For Having Water

Nothing illustrates the absurdity of prosecution decisions when it comes to protest cases, than the decision to prosecute Paul Raithby for having canister full of water.

Mr Raithby was arrested in February 2024 during an Extinction Rebellion “Insure our survival” campaign. This campaign was designed to highlight the insurance companies’ complicity in the climate crisis by offering insurance to the fossil fuel industry.

Mr Raithby was helping set up the protest near Lloyds of London, He was driving a van which had 2 canisters filled with water and an empty paint can. The van was being unloaded when the police swooped and thought the canisters might be used to cause some sort of criminal damage, in particular to spray buildings.

There was no evidence of anything being added to the water, or of a plan to add anything to the water. The prosecution case amounted to an environmental protestor having water in a spray canister.

Irrespective of merits of the police decision to arrest, the decision to continue to prosecute borders on the irrational. Mr Raithby made clear that the water was going to be used to clean up – to make sure that there was no criminal damage.

Despite two pre-trial hearings, the prosecution avoided any common sense decisions and ploughed on until the day of the trial. The trial judge politely enquired about the nature of the evidence that the prosecution sought to rely on, and after a few hours of back and forth, the prosecution saw sense and offered no evidence. Mr Raithby was formally found not guilty.

It took 6 months, a number of court hearings and arguments on the day of the trial about what the real evidence was, for the case to finally collapse.

This protest was about highlighting the existential crisis that we are facing as a society, instead, it can be used to highlight the State’s increasing authoritarian and illiberal response to protest.

If you want advice on any issue in this blog or advice on protest law please contact one of our experts in the Protest Law team.

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