A VETERAN protestor from Powys has been ordered to pay almost £1,000 after she was arrested in London while peacefully demonstrating against climate change.

Knighton pensioner Angie Zelter, 70, was arrested while sitting on the steps of the Bank of England on Tuesday, August 31, 2021, while reportedly asking to speak to the bank's governor Andrew Bailey about the need for a transition to a net-zero carbon economy and the end of all new fossil fuel funding.

Zelter, who was pictured being dragged from the scene by police officers, did not attend a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Friday, February 18, where she was ordered to pay a total of £925 in court fees. A charge of being a public assembly participant failing to comply with a condition was proved in her absence.

Zelter was in London as part of a two-week series of Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests in the capital, targeted at banking institutions who continue to invest in fossil fuels.

The incident took place at London Bridge at the Borough High Street Junction with Duke Street Hill, with Zelter and colleagues charged with taking part in a public assembly and knowingly failing to comply with a condition imposed by a senior police officer under section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, namely that it must finish before and not go beyond 4pm.

Zelter, of Church Street, Knighton, was fined £750 by magistrates and ordered to pay £100 costs as well as a £75 surcharge.

Around 483 people had been arrested in connection with the protests in various areas of the city, according to the Metropolitan Police.

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“We are peacefully demonstrating for one of the most urgent issues that the globe has ever faced,” Zelter said at the time of her arrest, as we reported.

“We are totally peaceful and non-violent and we need to be here, and the police should be on our side.”

Zelter, who has been arrested more than 200 times in her life for protesting, added: “I’ve been arrested over 200 times in many different countries, I don’t think one more time is going to make much of a difference.”

An active campaigner for almost half a century, Zelter has founded several innovative and effective campaigns. As a global citizen she has expressed her solidarity with movements all over the world. This has led to numerous arrests, court appearances and incarceration. She has been arrested in the UK, as well as Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Gran Canaria, the Netherlands, Israel, Palestine, Malaysia, Poland and South Korea and has spent over two years of her life in prison, awaiting trials on remand or serving sentences, all for non-violent resistance protests.

Zelter published a book in March last year, entitled ‘Activism for Life’ – chronicling her lifelong dedication to protesting and advice for the next generation, published in conjunction with International Women’s Day.

It has been described as an engaging and meticulously researched account of a life lived in pursuit of justice and peace, packed with advice and further reading for anyone interested in the ongoing campaigns described.