Activists in court over world cycling race protest

Three climate change activists who disrupted the Men's Elite Road Race at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland have been give a verbal warning by a sheriff.

Catriona Roberts, 21, Rebecca Kerr, 28, and Romane Moulin, 26, were admonished after they glued themselves to the surface of a narrow road in August.

The event was paused near Denny with just over 190km (118 miles) remaining.

A fourth accused, Ben Taylor, 29, was fined £250.

Sheriff Grant McCulloch told Taylor he was becoming "a professional protester".

After a three-and-a-half hour trial at Falkirk Sheriff Court, Sheriff McCulloch ruled it was "obvious" that the actions of all four protesters, from anti-oil group This Is Rigged, amounted to a breach of the peace.

He also dismissed a submission from Taylor that his actions had been justified "like the Suffragettes" by telling him: "The Suffragettes were convicted."

The admonition given to the three other activists counts as a conviction but there is no other penalty.

The court heard that the protesters had been spotted looking "dishevelled" and hiding in bushes beside the narrow road in the Carron Valley before the UCI peloton was due to pass.

It took them less than 30 seconds to set off pink powder cannons, pour superglue on their hands, and stick themselves to the road surface.

Taylor and Kerr sat back-to-back locked together by a cycling D-lock round their necks. Taylor then threw the keys onto a grass verge.

Meanwhile, Moulin and Roberts locked themselves together with a large bike chain.

The incident happened on 6 August on the B818 road near the Carronbridge Hotel, Denny, causing the 271km (168 miles) race to be paused.

It was later won by Dutch rider Mathieu van der Poel.

PC Gregor Malcolm, of Police Scotland's protester removal team, said the cyclists' peloton was stopped at a very narrow stretch of road, which the court heard had been chosen for that reason by Taylor.

Officers had to make their way through the stationary peloton and found the four accused were "all quite substantially glued to the road surface".

He told the court the cyclists were "incredibly upset".

PC Malcolm added: "It's an individual event, which is unusual in cycling, so there was a lot of anger at being stopped.

"Many of these athletes train for years for a one-off race which can make or break their careers."

Officers had to use a chemical de-bonder to release the group's hands from the road, all of which took more than 10 minutes.

Police also had to search the verge for the D-lock keys and undo Taylor from Kerr.

The four accused said they were protesting about the involvement of petrochemical firms in the event, and the granting of new licences for oil production in the North Sea, and denied a charge of breach of the peace.

From the witness box, Roberts, of Edinburgh, said: "If your house is on fire and you run into the road, rooted in fear, and you block the traffic, it is not a breach of the peace."

Taylor, of Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, said the wider cycling community was "complicit and ignorant about oil and gas companies sponsoring their races".

And Moulin, of Glasgow, said she had acted for the "greater good" and had been disruptive "to prevent disruption to millions".

Sheriff McCulloch told the accused: "Hundreds of cyclists had to grind to a halt on this narrow road because of the actions of four people.

"The potential for a serious disturbance is obvious."

The sheriff said he did not consider a defence of necessity or justification had been made out.

And he stated that while the protest was peaceful it was not "proportionate".