george fox 6

a group of 6 students from the university of lancaster have been sentenced to conditional discharge for 2 years and costs of 3oo pounds each, for "momentarily disrupting a conference". they were not found guilty of "harrassment, alarm or distress" or "intimidating behaviour". the george fox 6's actions involved interrupting a meeting on venture capitalism at the university, in protest against the commercialisation of research, and the presence of highly unethical companies including bae systems and shell.

the george fox 6 supporter's group website has all the details of the case, and includes copies of their statement, indicating their intention to appeal, to ensure that the right to protest is not eroded. speculation was rife during the run-up to the trial that lancaster was attempting to set a new trend of criminalising activities that ran against the business interests of the university. certainly, if the allegations of this letter from the research students' representative to the vice-chancellor are true, then the university has played a very underhand role in proceedings.

those interested in finding out about defending the right to protest against new laws and new uses of laws might be interested in attending the freedom to protest conference in a few weeks time.