Overview
- Sarah White, 40, was due at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on October 15 before the CPS withdrew both charges.
- Essex Police said she was arrested on suspicion of two Public Order Act offences, stressing the arrest was not for unfurling a Union flag.
- Reports show she climbed the steps of Epping Forest District Council’s civic offices after speaking at a protest at the Bell Hotel on August 31.
- Epping Forest District Council’s separate bid for a permanent injunction to stop use of the Bell Hotel for asylum accommodation is being heard at the High Court after an earlier injunction was overturned on appeal.
- The hotel became a protest flashpoint after an asylum seeker was charged in July, and police made other arrests on the night of White’s detention.