Vaccine protesters who shut down meeting won’t face charges

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s attorney general said Tuesday that he will not bring criminal charges against protesters who disrupted an Executive Council meeting in September before it began, forcing Gov. Chris Sununu to postpone it.

“The cancellation was due to the fact that certain state employees left after the breakfast meeting because of concerns about the protest and were therefore unable to answer questions from the Governor and Council concerning items on that day’s agenda,” Attorney General John Formella said in a statement Tuesday.

The state, he said, would not have been able to prove any potential criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

The postponement delayed a council vote on $27 million in federal aid to boost New Hampshire’s vaccination efforts.

Angry opponents of the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate moved around the room at St. Anselm College on Sept. 29, shouting, “Shut it down," before the meeting got could get underway.

Sununu, a Republican, said state police had to escort state employees to their cars after “unruly and very aggressive” behavior.

The Associated Press