Activist gets six months for boat race protest
Friday 19 October 2012
Printable
EmailA protestor that leapt into the Thames river to disrupt the annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge was jailed today for six months.
Trenton Oldfield, 36, of east London, who halted April's "elitist" race, reportedly looked surprised as Judge Molyneux handed down a custodial sentence.
The judge told Mr Oldfield, originally from Australia, that his "prejudiced" protest was "disproportionate."
He said: "It is a necessary part of a liberal and tolerant society that no one should be targeted because of a characteristic with which another takes issue."
But Defend the Right to Protest said Mr Oldfield "had been punished by the same class who were the target of his action."
They held a joint protest outside the court this morning with This is Not a Gateway, which Mr Trenton helped found in 2007.
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