Today, in the Royal Court of the English town of Northampton, the prosecutor spoke at a hearing in the case of protesters who tried to disrupt the British Grand Prix. Prosecutors believe that these people, who invaded the Silverstone circuit, seriously endangered the racers and marshals who worked there.
Video footage of the cars of Lewis Hamilton, Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Okon was shown during the court hearing, showing five protesters sitting on the tarmac of the track on the Wellington straight, and how they were subsequently driven off .
All the protesters, and these are Joshua Smith, Emily Brocklebank, Alisdair Gibson, Louis McKechnie, Bethany Moggi and David Baldwin, deny the charges against them of disturbing the peace. They are all members of Just Stop Oil (the name can be interpreted as “Just stop using oil”), an environmental organization known in the UK for its very radical protests.
Attorney Simon Jones told the jury in court: “The prosecution is of the opinion that the defendants have committed a criminal offense and are in breach of public order. They were all at Silverstone and planning to stop the race.
It is not discussed that five of them, with the exception of David Baldwin, were allowed on the track without permission. There is no discussion that they sat on the pavement for passing Formula 1 cars.
The public prosecutor’s office believes that they have created a situation with a significant risk. They could be hit by speeding cars, which would certainly lead to serious consequences. We believe their actions put riders and marshals at risk as well.”
Paradoxically, everyone was saved from such consequences by an accident that Alfa Romeo driver Guanyu Zhou was involved in at the start, after which the race was immediately stopped by red flags and the cars returned to the pits at a relatively moderate pace.
The trial against the environmental extremists began in August, but the UK judicial machine is slow and thorough, so hearings are likely to take some time.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
