DEMOCRACY campaigners left court victorious for the third time yesterday morning as the case against a man who dropped a banner at Parliament Square was itself dropped before his trial even began.

Occupy Democracy supporter Ryan O’Sullivan was to be taken to court by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for waving a bolt of fabric near Westminster without London Mayor Boris Johnson’s permission.

The case is the third to be won by the former occupiers of Parliament Square, after 12 other people were acquitted of the alleged crime of standing on tarpaulin.

Mr O’Sullivan said he was relieved but concerned about “absurd and regressive” policing of local laws governing the controlled area, which sits across from the Houses of Parliament.

Green Party London AM Jenny Jones, who was arrested during the protests last November, said: “The police keep overreacting, probably because of political pressure from the mayor and government.

“But where better to protest about freedom to protest than outside Parliament?”