Oxford University has won its High Court battle to keep an extended injunction against animal rights protestors at its Biomedical lab, according to Contract Journal.
Update: Oxford University has put up its own post about the injunction. In fact, the original extension to the injunction has not been approved. Instead a new injunction provides additional constraints (covered below), and the extra elements that were in the temporary injunction will be discussed when both parties return to the court on 18 May, after the Lord Justice’s visit (see below as well).
A Press Association story quotes the judge as saying: “I am wholly unwilling to get involved in these issues without being advised as to the views of the relevant senior officer of the Thames Valley police. It would be irresponsible of me to get involved without understanding what the position of the police is.”
The injunction limits the number of protestors allowed at the official spot on South Parks Rd. Protestors will only be allowed to use one megaphone at the weekly demonstration on Thursdays between 1pm and 2pm.
The new order will also provide some protection to students taking exams soon, extending an exclusion ban on protestors to the main exam halls in Oxford – the big one on the High Street and also Ewert House in Summertown between 18 April and 20 July and 10 September and 31 October.
Just on a tangent, the Examinations Schools on the High Street were today used for a screen test to find an actress to play Lyra Belacqua in a film adaptation of Philip Pulman’s His Dark Materials. I believe the same was done to find Hermione in the Harry Potter films and local girl Emma Watson won.
But back to the lab protest – what is most interesting is that Lord Justice Holland will apparently visit the lab on 2 May before he decides on any further injunctions. Which will prove interesting as Mayday is big news in Oxford and 2 May is usually the quietest day of the year as everyone recovers from the revellery.