Mike Taylor was given a conditional discharge at Uxbridge magistrates court last week. This is the lowest sentence that that can be handed out. Mike faces 150 court costs. Mike was charged with organising a protest on Heathrow airport property and refusing to leave a demonstration, after he joined a protest against the deportation of Iraqi Kurd Amanj Gafor in August last year. Protesters outside Mike's court case included members of the AEEU shop stewards' committee from Rolls Royce test areas in Bristol.
Campaigners feel the case marked a victory.
In the court they talked out my case in terms of 'issues of safety and anti-terrorist measures'. But the strong union presence had an effect and weakened their blow. They wanted to criminalise me for defending refugees. I really feel it's the government who should be in the dock over asylum seekers, not me. Zrinka Brald, who was denied asylum after fleeing war ravaged Sarajevo in 1992, took apart New Labour's immigration record since the 1997 election.