Yesterday (friday 24th april) the 3 Lappersfort occupiers arrested on tuesday night were released (original article about arrest http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/22493). Upon signing out of the Brugge prison they were all issued with deportation notices, ordering them to leave the “Kingdom of Belgium” by midnight on the 29.04.2009.
Yesterday (friday 24th april) the 3 Lappersfort occupiers arrested on tuesday night were released (original article about arrest http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/22493). Upon signing out of the Brugge prison they were all issued with deportation notices, ordering them to leave the “Kingdom of Belgium” by midnight on the 29.04.2009. One of them signed the paper after being threatened with being sent back into the cell if refusing. The other two refused to sign the paper and were still released, but as yet we’re not sure if the deportation notice has any legal grounds or not. Obviously the pigs are using their socalled “position of authority” to intimidate the occupiers and those supporting them, and this attempted deportation is simply an extreme and over-the-top expression of their desire to be rid of us before the issues of the lappersfort, of “zonevreemde” forests and police repression get too big for them to handle. The notice itself seems extremly dodgy, it has only been signed by the prison director, refers from a law from 1980, and one is issued without the official name of the person to be deported. But these days here in Brugge nothing is surprising anymore, and the police may take this “chance” to raid the camp to find the “illegal” people there. The facist pig-protectors of the “Belgian Reich” are again flexing their little muscles, and this one case is another example of the facism of “fortress Europe” and its protectors, and the violent repression practised against those who show any form of resistance. Resorting to such measures only shows us that the police here feel threatened by our presence in the forest.
Meanwhile the pigs still have the ID’s and belongings of many people, and we’re trying to find out whether the raid at a local friends house on wendesday afternoon was legal or not, and whether or not we have a legal case against the Brugge police. (For original article about raid http://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/22512).
Following the release of the 3 we now know more about their arrest on tuesday. At least 6-10 piggies had been waiting in the bushes, some dressed in camouflage and black, some in uniform, some with balaclavas and at least one dog. They came from behind the bushes and trees from all directions in a pathetic hollywood-style ambush, violently forcing 3 people to the ground, twisting their arms and using pressure-points. Fingerprints and photos were taken, and after the raid the pigs managed to positively identify one of the 3. The coppers here are using their tactics of kidnapping, ambush, violence and lies to crush our camp, our campaign, and to make others afraid of coming to visit, show support or move in. Spring is happening, and we are trying to get ready for a busy summer of campaigning and actions, despite constant police harassment. Just last night, while we celebrated the release of our friends, 3 people were forced to run from police after returning to the camp from collecting bread from a local bakery supporting the occupiers. The piggies, obviously with nothing better to do, waited long in to the night, keeping a close eye on the bag of bread dumped in the bushes by the 3 forced to flee. Upon returning to get it later, the silly buggers were still waiting, but the people managed to get away. Our criminal bread is now back on site and being enjoyed by all….
The camp, in this time of police surveillance and harassment and all the rest of it, require a few things which could be very helpful….Lappersfort wishlist: people with legal knowledge and experience, especially immigration law
computer freak to help updating and renewing old and neglected website
most of all we need more people in the forest, to come by and stay as long as they want, to move in and to take part in the camp itself (all people coming over should be aware however of strong police presence around the forest)
please phone for anything…….(++32 741/65.85.44)
The RSC June bank holiday gathering is back! From the 29th may till the 1st June we will be holding a gathering combining info sharing, direct action training, music and fun…
Last year resistance in Mayo was incredible; the Solitaire pipe laying ship was forced to leave Irish waters with no pipeline laid! This year resistance continues, and the ship will be forced to leave once again. Come to the gathering to find out more about the campaign, share skills and make plans for another summer of action….
The RSC June bank holiday gathering is back! From the 29th may till the 1st June we will be holding a gathering combining info sharing, direct action training, music and fun…
Last year resistance in Mayo was incredible; the Solitaire pipe laying ship was forced to leave Irish waters with no pipeline laid! This year resistance continues, and the ship will be forced to leave once again. Come to the gathering to find out more about the campaign, share skills and make plans for another summer of action….
Workshops confirmed include: history of the campaign, tour of the local area, drawing links with the Saro Wiwa vs. Shell trial in New York, direct action training for land and water based action, knowing your legal rights, facilitation training, health, safety and environmental impacts of the Corrib project, Corrib and climate change: Shell to Sea or Shell to hell? and permaculture. If you are interested in giving a workshop, want to play music, are interested in running a creche, want to help with the kitchen crew or think you can help in some other way, please get in touch to discuss your ideas.
The gathering will be a camp based on the coast in Glengad. You will need to bring camping equipment for sleeping (althought there is the RSC house available for anyone who is unable to camp). Meals will be provided.
For more information contact the RSC on rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com or 0851141170.
A large number of Indians have blockaded one of the Amazon’s main tributaries, the Napo River, in response to the violation of their rights by oil companies and Peru’s government.
A large number of Indians have blockaded one of the Amazon’s main tributaries, the Napo River, in response to the violation of their rights by oil companies and Peru’s government.
The protesters have blockaded the Napo with canoes and a cable to stop oil company vessels getting upriver. According to sources, two boats, including one from the Anglo-French company Perenco, have managed to break through the blockade. Three shots were allegedly fired at the Indians who chased after them.
The blockade of the Napo River is just one of many protests currently taking place across the Peruvian Amazon. Coordinated by Peru’s Amazon Indian organisation, AIDESEP, the protests are in response to government policies seen by the Indians as discriminatory and threatening to their communal lands. AIDESEP is lobbying for the repeal of several laws they claim violate their rights, and for the creation of new reserves for uncontacted tribes.
The government has responded by sending police and soldiers to areas where protests are taking place. AIDESEP has criticised these measures, calling them ‘intimidation’ and saying that the protests are peaceful.
Perenco is working in a part of the Amazon inhabited by two of the world’s last uncontacted tribes. The company does not acknowledge the tribes exist.
Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘All over the world tribal peoples are being forced to resort to blockades to try and protect their remaining land. We’re seeing this in India and Malaysia as well as South America.’
www.survival-international.org
23.04.2009
Shell’s illegal Glengad compound was dismantled last night and Goldman winner, Willie Corduff was assaulted by masked Shell security during truck protest.
23.04.2009
Shell’s illegal Glengad compound was dismantled last night and Goldman winner, Willie Corduff was assaulted by masked Shell security during truck protest.
Yesterday Shell’s attempts to restart their works on the Corrib Gas project were ground to a halt after only eight hours. At 6-30 a workforce of about 20, backed up by around 50 private security guards erected fences to re-establish a compound. This compound is the would-be on-shore pipe installation base. Works were seriously hampered when local people and solidarity camp activists occupied machinery.
By 4 o clock Rossport Five member Willie Corduff was still refusing to leave the from under the truck, which he had occupied in the compound and all work had ground to a halt. Shell were unable to continue as Willie was preventing necessary equipment being used.
As the evening drew to a close Willie was resolute that he would stay and the community rallied around in support. Throughout the evening supporters gathered at the compound to show support for the campaign and Willie Corduff’s stand bringing blankets and hot water bottles.
As the crowd gathered tensions rose as Erris people saw first hand Shell’s attempt to devastate their community for a tenth year in a row. The fence beside the truck where Willie was positioned was removed and the activists made their way to Willie to ensure he was ok. Soon the entire southern exterior perimeter was dismantled. Shell’s initial works were almost undone.
At this point people returned to see Willie who was cold and still but all things considered was in good spirits. Erris activists had checked Shell’s attempts to restart work. People sat around talking and were in high spirits.
Protesters Attacked
Around 3am the vigil of supporters were gathered on the road and Willie was accompanied at the truck only by his brother- in-law. Willie had briefly gotten out from under the truck to stretch his legs. The two men were standing beside the truck when up to ten Shell security personnel in black and wearing balaclavas “appeared out of nowhere”. The men pushed Willie to the ground and started kicking him and hitting him with a heavy object that appeared to be a baton or torch. They knelt on his head and twisted his arms behind his back as they beat him. His brother-in-law attempted to aid Willie but was pushed back repeatedly and forcibly removed by the masked Shell security into an adjacent field where he was then knocked to the ground, kicked and beaten.
A Shell medic stayed with Willie for a period. Local people, who arrived on the scene shortly after the two men were assaulted, were so frightened of the Shell security personnel that they called the Gardaí who were patrolling the area. Willie was removed by an ambulance to Castlebar General Hospital, where he is being treated for nausea and severe bruising to the head and body. A Garda statement confirmed the identity of Willie and his brother-in-law’s attackers stating that “A protester [Willie] who was present on the site since yesterday was this morning removed from the compound by security staff.”
Works as we write appears to be suspended. Willie Corduff is in hospital, the area is on a knife-edge as a mixture of fear and anger brews.
People are urged to travel to Erris now to stand with Erris people to make a stand against Shell.
Following the ambush & arrest of 3 lappersfort occupiers on the night of 21st April, the Brugge police yesterday conducted a raid on the house of a local sympathiser.
Following the ambush & arrest of 3 lappersfort occupiers on the night of 21st April, the Brugge police yesterday conducted a raid on the house of a local sympathiser. Atleast 6 pigs entered the home after showing a warrant, and took with them many personal items from the occupiers, including passports, other forms of ID and even personal letters and journals. The police are taking every opportunity to weaken local support through the media circus and also to gather identification of the occupiers. The belief is that they are gathering the id’s in order to be able to charge people with the costs of the eviction (after eviction in 2002, 13 occupier who had given their names were threatened with having to pay the eviction costs of 50,000euros if they are caught again in the forest) . We aren’t sure if this means the eviction is coming any sooner now, but the camp is under constant eviction threat. There is some speculation as to whether or not the police raid yesterday was done legally or not, and also whether or not they will take the next step of raiding the camp….
Meanwhile 3 of our friends are still sitting in prison in brugge and will face the judge tomorrow. They are accused of scraping some words in wet concrete, which the pigs have decided deserves the official charge of “destroying the road”. We are obviously hoping they will all be released tomorrow, but the courthouse here in Brugge has a reputation for locking up lappersforters for anything they possibly can. One local paper also reported that the security and dogs who ambushed and arrested the 3 on Tuesday night were requested by the mayor himself.
Life in the forest is getting sometimes difficult, and the pigs are obviously using their tactics of intimidation, fear and repression to demoralise the camp and cause division between the occupiers and the local community. But the camp and the campaign goes on, spring is happening, and more humans are always wished for and welcome….we wont let the piggies stop us, or even slow us down…
A day of permaculture workshops, followed by a BBQ and party. Then stay and help us resist the bailiffs.
Permaculture Day at the Social Justice centre, 201 Bristol Road, B5 7UB.
The Social Justice centre at Bristol Road is hosting a permaculture day on Saturday 25th April.
The event is scheduled for 11am till late . There will also be a barbecue and music for your pleasure.
A day of permaculture workshops, followed by a BBQ and party. Then stay and help us resist the bailiffs.
Permaculture Day at the Social Justice centre, 201 Bristol Road, B5 7UB.
The Social Justice centre at Bristol Road is hosting a permaculture day on Saturday 25th April.
The event is scheduled for 11am till late . There will also be a barbecue and music for your pleasure.
The Centre is a squatted former hotel and conservation area, which has been run down by the owner and former managers. The occupiers are keen to turn this situation around and restore the grounds to proper ecological management, and are working with local stakeholders to this end. In the meantime, practical steps taken include the planting of a vegetable plot.
The day on Saturday will involve volunteers from the neighbouring Metamorphosis at the Martineau Gardens. We will be sharing environmental conservation skills while doing practical work to restore the conservation area to proper environmental management to the best of our collective abilities on the day. We will be continuing to lay pathways too.
Calling all permaculture activists and eco-warriors: come along and share your skills and experience, and of course naturally please bring any tools or seeds you want to use for a naturally natural experience.
The Beechwood Hotel/Squat
201 Bristol Road
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B5 7UB
For more information call Lee 07874 180014
Protestors beaten by Gardai
22nd April 2009 UPDATE UPDATE
Today’s fencing (and gates?) in Glengad is right now being removed by the community.
Shell returned in force today to Glengad, arriving about 6.45, by about 7 protesters from the community and camp had started to gather.
Protestors beaten by Gardai
22nd April 2009 UPDATE UPDATE
Today’s fencing (and gates?) in Glengad is right now being removed by the community.
Shell returned in force today to Glengad, arriving about 6.45, by about 7 protesters from the community and camp had started to gather.
Willie Corduff, Goldman Environmental Award Winner and 2 others climbed under a truck carrying palisade fencing on the SAC. A camper climbed onto a telescopic loader, later changing to a 20t excavator/digger used for lifting the fencing panels.
Maura Harrington partially blocked the front entrance of the compound with her car, and throughout the day many folk jumped the fence and tried to stop the destruction of this pristine habitat.
Shell had dozens of security and dozens of workers, but were severely hampered in their activities by stiff local resistance. The occupation of truck and digger meant that they had only limited resources for their work, but in the late afternoon they had another digger and another truck load of fencing dropped to site.
The Gardai tried to talk the digger jumper and Wille & co out but to no avail, they simply kept stating that they wanted to see Shell’s permissions to be carrying out the work. When this failed they took a more direct approach with the men under the lorry. They managed to pull Willie’s boots off and stared twisting his toes, they threw stones at them and beat Willie on the ankle with a rock, while another lorry protestor had his had repeatedly banged off the ground by a thug masquerading as a Inspector. Willie was also scratched and stuck in the privates by Gardai.
As the hours ticked by the Gardai had Maura’s car towed by plant hire owner Carey. After 9hrs on the digger the camper was grabbed by security and forcibly pulled off, severely bruising his legs and arm. The other 2 people under the lorry spent approx 8hrs under it.
The weather turned nasty with gale force winds and driving rain, which made life difficult for protesters and workers alike.
This evening Willie remains under the lorry and the Gardai have left. Another man managed to get under the lorry with Willie this evening. There is a large security force still in Glengad, with a crowd forming of solemn protesters standing near Willie in the dark but the situation still seems potentially volatile. Rumour is that several fire brigade units are on their way to lift the lorry and remove him.
The local radio station, Midwest Radio, have been openly calling in their news for Shell to produce documentation to the effect that they have the necessary permissions to work in Glengad which they don’t seem to have.
Around noon or so the portaloos that Shell had dropped on the SAC blew over and all their chemicals poured out onto the SAC, no attempt was made to clean up the chemical spill and the portaloos were only stood up again about 7pm.
Today Shell eventually managed to put up large front gates and create the top compound section with a 2nd set of gates leading down into the SAC.
Despite telling 1 or 2 people they were arrested no arrests were made.
People are frustrated & angry but determined, they need all the help they can get, so now is the time to get to Erris if you can, for whatever support you can give.
After being inspired into action by the fight against global climate chaos, the Scarborough Climate Action group have opened “Green Planet”, a community resource centre for education, information and participation on the east coast of Yorkshire.
They aim to provide a central point for people in the local area to
After being inspired into action by the fight against global climate chaos, the Scarborough Climate Action group have opened “Green Planet”, a community resource centre for education, information and participation on the east coast of Yorkshire.
They aim to provide a central point for people in the local area to find out how they can make positive changes to their environment, as well as providing an autonomous space for people to use the internet, meet like-minded people and get directly involved with the newly burgeoning Scarborough activist networks.
The Scarborough Climate Action Network, formerly Scarborough Against Climate Change was set up in the aftermath of last years Kingsnorth Climate Camp. A group of local activists who attended the camp were inspired to consider ways in which they could make more of an impact in their local area at a grassroots level. In a model of how small, local groups can make a difference in their communities through collective organisation and cooperation, the Green Planet resource centre is now open to the community.
Having organised campaigns in the town centre of Scarborough against the use of coal and to promote the urgent need to cut carbon emissions, it seemed clear from the positive yet misinformed response of the community that a focal point was needed to raise awareness of the issues amongst the people of the east coast area. The need for an autonomous social space in the town was identified as the best way to get this message across and so the group set about making this happen.
The collectives newsletter, being published and distributed widely in the local area, clearly sets out their core aims:
- To raise awareness locally, of the serious threat of human induced climate change, which is already affecting people worldwide.
- To encourage local people to make environmentally friendly lifestyle changes
- To encourage local and national government to take more effective action to combat climate change
With the proceeds of fundraising and a £3500 grant from Artists Project Earth (APE), they managed to obtain a property in Hanover Road, behind the Stephen Joseph Theatre in the town centre. A team of volunteers began the task of turning the venue into an inclusive, open space in which to achieve their objectives.
Paint, wood and other materials were collected from skips and bins in the local area and put to reuse as desks, shelves and displays for campaign literature and calls to action. A computer that was donated by a member of the collective is being liberated by open source software and connected to the internet for anyone in the community to use. A small kitchen has also been set up to provide drinks for visitors, in the hope that people will stop by regularly to get information and ideas for action.
The literature available in the centre covers a wide range of issues, from climate activism to NO2ID. The collective is also preparing a list of books which promote positive environmental change to order at the local library so as to be accessible to the whole community. The main hope is that the people of Scarborough will turn to the space as inspiration to make positive changes to their lives, be it using alternative technology, reducing their power consumption, changing their diet or any combination of the many alternatives that are needed to halt the current slide towards climate catastrophe.
The centre will also function as a place where people from the local area can get involved in the Leeds/Bradford IMC and will be hosting a skillshare soon on media activism and electronic security. A range of other skillshares, film nights, action-based events and talks will also take place, both at the centre and at the local University. These will be advertised locally and in the events section of LBIMC.
Anyone is welcome to join the group and a call has been made for people to help with the day to day operation of the centre, with volunteers needed to provide good environmental advice to the community on a rota basis in order to make the resource reliably available.
Anyone in the area with an interest is encouraged to get in touch by email at scarboroughccc@hotmail.co.uk or simply drop by the centre for a friendly chat.
Links to local news coverage of the group:
Climate Group Heading to Camp | We must burn less coal | Setting the right climate
Related Indymedia coverage:
Climate Camp 08 | Swindon Climate Action Network | Mass action at Drax
The two occupied social centres operating under the Justice Not Crisis banner discovered on Monday that they were both to be evicted on the same day – Tuesday 21 April. This was not to be, thanks to a spirited resistance from the squatters and supporters. To successfully defend one squat can be considered fortunate; to defend two in one morning begins to seem miraculous. It just goes to show that the powers that be are far from infallible, and that solid peaceful direct action can bring major benefits for the community. The squats however remain on high eviction alert, and request all supporters to mobilise. Come down, even if for an hour, and help keep these facilities open for workers, for the environment and for the community.