Euston tunnel protest: High Court rejects demonstrators' bid not to be evicted

The entrance to the tunnel is through a shed in Euston Square Gardens

Anti-HS2 protesters have lost a legal bid to remain in a network of tunnels they have dug near London's Euston station.

Activists have been living under Euston Square Gardens since 26 January in an attempt to stop their eviction from the site.

On Wednesday, a High Court judge rejected an application for an order to stop HS2 removing the protesters.

Mrs Justice Steyn also ordered the demonstrators to leave the tunnels.

Some activists have left or been removed from the tunnel since it was first discovered two weeks ago but an undisclosed number of people remain underground.

Dr Maxey has spent more than two weeks living in the tunnel network

Some of them are said to have "locked" themselves to points inside the tunnel they claim is 100ft (30m) long.

The judge attached a penal notice the judgement calling on protesters to leave the tunnels.

This means Dr Larch Maxey, the protester who brought the challenge, faces contempt of court proceedings if he does not comply.

Dr Maxey, who remains in the tunnels, had argued the remaining protesters should be provided with oxygen monitoring equipment, a hard-wired communications system, food and drink.

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He also asked the court to order that arrangements should be made for the removal of human waste from the tunnels.

The judge said the evidence shows that the tunnel is "poorly constructed and liable to collapse".

She said protesters are in a "highly dangerous situation", while the danger is "equally grave" for those attempting to remove them.

On the evidence placed before her, the judge said there is "no realistic prospect" of the court finding HS2 was breaching its duty to the protesters.

A number of activists have been removed since the eviction began

In a statement HS2 Ltd said: "The decision of the court today is utterly unambiguous.

"HS2 Ltd is carrying out the eviction correctly and that the illegal trespassers are breaking the law and should remove themselves from the tunnel immediately.

"HS2 will continue its operation to safely remove the illegal trespassers currently occupying an underground tunnel in Euston Square."

Activist threw paint at the Department of Transport's headquarters in Westminster

Elsewhere on Wednesday, protesters from the Burning Pink group, also objecting to the HS2 rail link, daubed the front of the Department for Transport (DfT) with pink paint.

A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said that two people had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

A DfT spokesman said the government "always recognise the right to peaceful protest but there is no justification for acts of vandalism on public property which put frontline emergency service workers at risk during the pandemic".

He added: "HS2 is a long-term, low-carbon alternative to domestic flights, freight and driving which will be crucial to achieving our ambition of carbon net zero by 2050."