Danish prosecutors have suffered a serious defeat in the wake of the COP15 Climate Summit in Copenhagen last December after a court has cleared an Australian and an American activist of planning violent demonstrations during the summit.

The Copenhagen Municipal Court judge found that prosecution evidence was not strong enough to warrant the accusations and set the two free to the general applause of some 30 supporters.

The charges against the two, a 27-year-old American man and a 34-year-old Australian woman, included planning several violent demonstrations against, among others, the Danish confederation of industries DI, Dansk Energi, Shell, Maersk and Forum.

The two, who have previously been in custody for three weeks, have consistently denied all charges.

According to the charges the two had planned their violent demonstrations but were prevented from carrying them out when police detained them in mid-December, before the COP15 summit reached its climax.