A YOUNG communist was cleared of charges brought against him by police today almost two years after his arrest at the Cop26 protest in Glasgow.

Glasgow Young Communist League (YCL) secretary Nathan Hennebry had been the only one of over 50 arrests made during the course of the world summit held in the city in 2021 who went on to face trial.

The Crown argued that he held a flare in a manner which could have caused injury to Police Scotland officers at the protest, but their case foundered when two police witnesses to the trial produced different accounts of the incident.

Questions were also asked as to why no comment was made by police to Mr Hennebry at the time of the alleged dangerous incident, instead arresting him hours later, despite his being in a police “box cordon” throughout.

YCL general secretary Johnnie Hunter welcomed his comrade’s acquittal but argued the pursuit of Mr Hennebry demonstrated “political policing” at the summit.

He told the star: “Today’s not guilty verdict is a vindication of what we have always known.

“These were trumped-up charges and a shameless case of political policing. 

“Nathan was targeted for being a YCL and Communist Party member, who dared to exercise his hard-won democratic right of protest to oppose capitalism killing our planet.  

“This reflects a broader attack on civil liberties across Britain today — a dangerous trend that we have to oppose.”

Mr Hunter said that while Mr Hennebry was exonerated, “we shouldn’t be under any illusions that we can rely on ruling-class courts to protect our rights.”

“Only a class conscious, mass labour and progressive movement can do that,” he said.

Speaking to the Star, Mr Hennebry thanked the “fantastic” support he enjoyed from friends, family and the wider labour and trade union movement, but said: “It’s been farcical. From the attempt by Police Scotland to break into our office the night before the rally, to the incident I have been acquitted of, and the treatment of those kettled at Holland Street — including children — it was disgraceful.

“They falsely accused me, but there was no comment by the police made on their absolute rash behaviour that put others in danger.

“At the end of the day, they tried to get something out of Cop26 from the YCL and I was that something for two years, but they failed.”

He said that the YCL “continued to grow,” saying: “They tried to demoralise us, but they failed.

“At Cop26, we had a slogan, and it remains the same.

“It’s either socialism or extinction.”