The Guardian reports:
Brian Haw to be evicted from lawn outside parliamentPeace campaigner loses attempt to appeal against mayor's possession order, but can move tent on to pavement
* Karen McVeigh and Hannah Godfrey
* guardian.co.uk, Friday 15 April 2011 14.26 BSTThe veteran peace campaigner Brian Haw faces eviction from an area of grass in Parliament Square Gardens after losing an attempt to launch a legal challenge against a possession order granted to the mayor of London.
Haw's longstanding presence on the pavement on the east side of Parliament Square is not, however, threatened by the order, which relates to his encroachment on to a small adjoining part of the gardens where he has pitched a tent. Haw has come under pressure to quit his decade-old protest just metres from Westminster Abbey as the royal wedding approaches.
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Rejecting the application at the court of appeal, the master of the rolls, Lord Neuberger, and Lady Justice Smith ruled there was "no prospect" of any appeal being successful. They said the mayor was entitled to his order for possession without any further delay as "justice delayed is justice denied".
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Haw is being treated for lung cancer in Germany.
Mr Justice Wyn Williams last month granted an order for possession and an injunction against Haw, from Redditch, Worcestershire, and Tucker, but the orders were not to be put in place until after any appeal.
All Haw and Tucker have to do now, however, having lost the right to appeal, is to move their tents from the green, owned by the Greater London Authority, to the pavement, which is owned by Westminster council.
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The high court judge ruled: "Parliament Square Gardens [PSG] is not a suitable location for prolonged camping; such camping is incompatible with the function, lawful use and character of PSG and it is also inconsistent with the proper management of the area as a whole."
He said the campaigners' tents and placards were occupying more space than was permitted. The pair would be allowed use of a three-metre length of kerb to display placards as that had been a part of the protest for several years, the judge said.
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