Criminal charges have been dropped against dozens of people who staged a protest against plastic pollution outside the headquarters of Unilever.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided not to proceed against 34 individuals days before their trial was due to start.
Eight people had been facing charges of aggravated trespass and 26 protesters were charged with the new offence of “locking on”, which was introduced in the Public Order Act 2023.
In a letter from the CPS, lawyers said charges were being dropped because there was “not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction”.
The charges related to a protest outside Unilever’s headquarters in London last September when Greenpeace activists blockaded the entrances in protest over the company’s alleged failure to tackle plastic pollution.
Will McCallum, a co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: “This is a bolt of good news in an otherwise bleak landscape for protest rights. Our activists were facing a combined total of up to 15 years in prison for standing up to one of the world’s largest plastic polluters.
“The invented crime of ‘locking on’ is just one new tool in a well-stocked legal arsenal that is being used to stifle dissent and send peaceful protesters to jail. Previous governments brought in these laws and powers, but the responsibility lies with [the prime minister] Keir Starmer to end their chilling effect on democracy and repeal them.”
The crime of locking on was one of a number of offences and powers created by the previous Conservative government in its crackdown on peaceful protest.
Last year, one climate activist was sentenced to five years in prison, and four others to four years in prison, for taking part in a video call to discuss a planned protest.
Greenpeace’s protest was part of a continuing campaign against Unilever after the company announced a major rollback of plastic reduction targets last year.
Climbers scaled the headquarters and attached a large artwork to the outside wall. Activists also blocked the entrances to the building, locking themselves on to large models of the company’s flagship Dove products and a “dead dove” parody of the brand’s logo.
The first trials had been due to begin on 15 January at City of London magistrates court.
Unilever has been approached for a comment.
