No further charges will be brought over reports of assault and throwing smoke bombs and glitter at a women’s rights rally – and the investigation into alleged hate speech by its organiser has also been dropped.
Three arrests were made during the Let Women Speak event in Victoria Gardens, Brighton, in September last year after flares were thrown at speakers.
Police later launched a further investigation into glitter being thrown at a supporter of the rally – and into comments made by its organiser Kellie-Jay Keen which the complainant said were transphobic.
Disorder broke out after a large number of trans activists staged a counter protest against Ms Keen and the other speakers.
Craig Brown, 50, who initially joined the trans activists, but switched sides after hearing the speeches, admitted assault by squeezing a man’s testicles.
The other two people who were arrested – a 19-year-old woman for assault and a 20-year-old man for obstructing a police officer – are no longer under investigation.
One of the counter-protesters filmed being arrested by police has been identified as Charlie Turner, aka Bliss Winters, a Brighton student previously convicted of criminal damage for spray painting anti-Israel slogans on an office in Trafalgar Street.
Police also investigated reports of another counter-protester throwing glitter, but this has also been closed with no charges.
The organiser of the rally, Kellie-Jay Keen, was subsequently reported for a hate crime over comments she made there.
In November, she released a video of her listening to a Sussex Police officer calling her and saying she was investigating a report made a month ago of the “use of words or behaviour to stir up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation”.
In February, she was questioned at a police station in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, after being told she would be arrested if she didn’t attend a voluntary interview.
But Sussex Police says the CPS has advised the threshold for prosecution had not been met.
A spokesman for Sussex Police said: “Sussex Police received a report of a hate-related public order incident at an event at Victoria Gardens, Brighton, on Sunday, September 18.
Following a thorough and detailed investigation, which included seeking early investigative advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the CPS has advised no further action should be taken in this matter as the evidential test was not met.
“The victim and suspect have both been informed no further action will be taken and the investigation has now concluded.
“Police must balance the competing and sometimes conflicting rights of individuals to freely express themselves while ensuring those doing so remain within the boundaries of the law.
“It is also the duty of police to investigate any reports of criminality. We take any report of hate motivated incidents seriously, and remain committed to investigating these proportionally, without prejudice, and in line with legislation, while recognising the complexity and sensitivity of the issues.”
He added: “A 19-year-old woman and 20-year-old man arrested at an event in Victoria Gardens in Brighton on Sunday, September 18, have been released with no further action taken. The investigation has now been closed.
“The investigation into a report of a hate-related public order incident at the same event has also been closed with no further action taken.”
Putting the main speaker aside a moment. Grabbing somebody’s testicals is clearly assault and I fail to see how, based on the fact the body part grabbed was a ‘sexual organ / body part’ it wouldn’t also be sexual assault?
I won’t get into the whole “words are violence” schtick as A. I honestly think it’ll only cause unnecessarily inflammatory ‘fights’ between keyboard warriors on all sides which I’ve no desire to be a part of or B. The merits of the speaker (s) but physically grabbing anyone IS a crime. Touching anyone’s reproductive/ sexual organs without consent IS sexual assault and is supposed to be a serious offence, is it not?!
Sussex Police are captured and until Katy Bourne gets her act together or is replaced, we’ll live under a police dictatorship which advocates for one half of society but not the other.
I have nothing but respect for Let Women Speak. Agree with them or not, they’ve got more balls than the men with actual balls.