Four men who staged a protest on the roof of the Waterfront Hall in Belfast over a year ago were cleared yesterday of charges relating to the incident.
Mr Robert McClenaghan, Mr John Dunbar, Mr Robert Patrick Walsh and Mr Gary Justin Morgan were charged with entering the hall as trespassers and failing to comply with a police officer's direction to leave the building. They had unfurled a Tricolour and a banner calling for the release of republican prisoners.
The facts were agreed in written statements handed into court in December when the court was shown a video recording of the protest. The defence claimed there was no case to answer as there was no evidence the defendants had entered the building.
Prosecuting counsel argued that the roof was part of the building. "To suggest otherwise is to make a nonsense of the legislation," she said.
The Resident Magistrate, Mr Noel Dunlop, reserved his decision until yesterday when he said the key word in the first charge was "entering". He held there had been no evidence as to how the four men gained access to the roof. Therefore he could not find that they entered the building and he dismissed the charge.
As regards the second offence, he said the law required the police officer who directed the defendants to leave the building to have written authorisation from the person in charge of it.
There had been no evidence that had been done, said Mr Dunlop, and he dismissed the second charge as well.