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Climate activists cleared in UK of charges in rooftop protest at Sunak's estate
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FILE - Britain's outgoing Conservative Party Prime Minister Rishi Sunak looks down as he makes a short speech outside 10 Downing Street before going to see King Charles III to tender his resignation in London, on July 5, 2024. - photo by AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File
LONDON (AP) — Four Greenpeace activists arrested for scaling the country estate of former U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and draping it in black fabric to protest his plan to expand oil and gas drilling in the North Sea have been cleared of criminal charges. Judge Adrian Lower in York Magistrates’ Court threw out the charges Friday after finding the evidence was too “tenuous” to convict them of criminal damage for allegedly cracking tiles on Sunak's slate roof in North Yorkshire. “Justice and common sense prevailed in court today, but that hasn’t been the case for many activists recently," one of the defendants, Michael Grant, said outside court.