Courts in Great Britain have granted Huntingdon Life Sciences and some of its affiliates temporary injunctions over the past few months, and the High Court there is now considering whether to make those injunctions permanent.
Four Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty Activists — Greg and Natasha Avery, Heather James and Claire Percy — have asked for a trial before the court on whether or not the injunctions should be made permanent, while Huntingdon Life Sciences argued that the trial was unnecessary. Mr. Justice Mackay ruled that the issue should go to trial for resolution.
In making the ruling, according to a Press Association account,
Mr. Justice Mackay said that he believed the claimants, HLS and Mr. Cass had a “formidable” case and one which appeared likely to proceed, but he was not satisfied there was no real prospect of a successful defence for the four defendants.
Based on that reasoning, Greg Avery declared that HLS had suffered a “spectacular” failure and told the Press Association (emphasis added),
The judge has recognized that SHAC is now a peaceful organization. The temporary injunctions were granted on the basis of unchallenged evidence. We shall now have our day in court.
Aside from Avery’s delusional reading of Mackay’s ruling, it is interesting that Avery said that SHAC is now a peaceful organization. Of course anyone can see that SHAC has been a violent organization in the past, and by now a peaceful organization, Avery apparently meant for the length of time it took him to finish that sentence.
As for those covered by the temporary injunction who did not challenge the proceedings, Mackay made permanent the injunction against six individual defendants and London Animal Action.
Source:
Animal rights protesters given go-ahead to challenge harassment injunction. Cathy Gordon, Press Association News, May 26, 2004.
Let’s hope HLS is closed down really soon.