Author: earthfirst

Digger attacked in Protest by Concerned Citizens in Cornwall

20.11.2006

Housing project in Cornwall targeted by protesters against urban sprawl

Last night a site of housing development in Helston was targeted by a group of concerned citizens.

Locks on a digger were glued and slogans sprayed over the windows.

20.11.2006

Housing project in Cornwall targeted by protesters against urban sprawl

Last night a site of housing development in Helston was targeted by a group of concerned citizens.

Locks on a digger were glued and slogans sprayed over the windows.

This action was taken to highlight the increasing urban sprawl that is attacking our countryside.
Cornwall does not need more homes. There are enough homes in Cornwall, but we have to abolish the second homes that lie empty for eleven months of the year.

We need our wild spaces. We do not need urban sprawl.

Birmingham activists close Shell petrol station in Rossport Solidarity action

20.11.2006 Over 20 Birmingham activists today shutdown the Shell petrol station on Bath Row nr. Five Ways, Birmingham for over three hours (no arrests !!!) Over 20 activists initiated the daylight blockade of the central Birmingham Shell station. Three protestors ‘locked on’ in the entrance to prevent access to the station whilst others strung banners … Continue reading “Birmingham activists close Shell petrol station in Rossport Solidarity action”

Rossport Shell station protest Brum 2
Rossport Shell station protest Brum 3
Rossport Shell station protest Brum 4
Rossport Shell station protest Brum
20.11.2006
Over 20 Birmingham activists today shutdown the Shell petrol station on Bath Row nr. Five Ways, Birmingham for over three hours (no arrests !!!)

Over 20 activists initiated the daylight blockade of the central Birmingham Shell station. Three protestors ‘locked on’ in the entrance to prevent access to the station whilst others strung banners across the exits and a ledge looking over the forecourt (pictures to come). There were no serious encounters with motorists and passers by were generally supportive of the demo, the aims of which were to disrupt Shell’s operations and to raise awareness of the struggle of the community of County Mayo, Ireland against Shell’s construction of a dangerous and experimental pipeline which poses not only a danger to the environment of this idyllic part of Ireland but also the people of County Mayo. Protestors also tried to obtain a statement from the company but were unsuccessful.

Police took over 20 minutes to respond to the action but on arrival failed to convince the protestors to move on, with half-hearted vague threats of arrest for obstruction of the highway, breach of the peace, and even witholding identity (which isnt a crime duh). In the end there was little the small group of ill prepared local pigs could do except stand by, wave bemused motorists on and take some late photos on a knocked up digital camera.

The protest ended peacefully at a time determined by the protestors after a meeting to which the franchisee was invited to give a formal response to the protest. The blockade lasted a total of three hours.

Police followed some of the protestors to a nearby restaurant after the action, going as far as entering the premises to conduct surveillance before the owner of the business asked them to leave on the grounds they were harrassing his customers for no reason.

http://www.corribsos.com/ (Shell to Sea – Campaign against Shell in Ireland)

Aldermaston 26/27th Nov – national demo against new nuclear weapon facility

28 miles from Oxford, the biggest and most powerful lasar system in the world is being built at the nuclear weapons factory, Aldermaston, at a cost of £183 million (on the scale of Heathrow’s terminal 5). Greenpeace’s report on 20th. Oct. exxposed the sham of the government’s stance this year (May 22nd. ) when Dan Browne, Defence Secretary insisted “The Atomic Weapons Establishment is not engaged in the development of any new warheads”. The Green peace report revealed testimony by US nuclear weapons scientists that the new facilities are in fact for designing and building new nuclear weapons. So much for parliamentary debate!

28 miles from Oxford, the biggest and most powerful lasar system in the world is being built at the nuclear weapons factory, Aldermaston, at a cost of £183 million (on the scale of Heathrow’s terminal 5). Greenpeace’s report on 20th. Oct. exxposed the sham of the government’s stance this year (May 22nd. ) when Dan Browne, Defence Secretary insisted “The Atomic Weapons Establishment is not engaged in the development of any new warheads”. The Green peace report revealed testimony by US nuclear weapons scientists that the new facilities are in fact for designing and building new nuclear weapons. So much for parliamentary debate!

GREENPEACE iIS JOINING WITH THE BLOCK THE BUILDERS CAMPAIGN TO HOLD THE BIGGEST PROTEST WALK AND INSPECTION of this site on MONDAY 27th November. People will be coming from all over the UK to raise the issue of what is happening at Aldermaston.
To build new nuclear weapons would not only be to commit ourselves to the waste of £75 billion over the next 30 years it also totally undermines the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

If you can come to the Greenpeace/Block the Builders event, contact Malcolm on malcolm.carroll@uk.greenpeace.org. His phone number is 07717802892. He will advise you where to meet with others for the pre-meeting on the Sunday 26th. November. You can ask him about overnight sleeping facilities.

PIPELINE SQUAT?PROTEST public transport, maps info & video

http://www.pontardawe.org.uk/
gives you all you need
so no excuses
very low police prescence,
enormous local support

Trebanos demohttp://www.pontardawe.org.uk/
gives you all you need
so no excuses
very low police prescence,
enormous local support
they love us, and we love them
we can win this one
more bodies needed though!
especially during mon-fri as many of us have jobs to keep up…. unfortunately.
get down there, its great!

4 min video report from the occupied LNG pipeline at Trebanos in South Wales.
Trebanos report – video/x-ms-wmv 9.0M

Rossport Solidarity Picket, Salford Quays

18.11.2006

Saturday 18th November, around 20 activists, including the Rhythms of Resistance samba band went to picket the Shell garage at Salford Quays. Whilst the band played, the rest of us leafletted drivers as they arrived and where possible spoke to them. The site of the band made it all the easier to do so and most were prepared to talk too.

Rossport Shell picket Salford18.11.2006

Saturday 18th November, around 20 activists, including the Rhythms of Resistance samba band went to picket the Shell garage at Salford Quays. Whilst the band played, the rest of us leafletted drivers as they arrived and where possible spoke to them. The site of the band made it all the easier to do so and most were prepared to talk too.

The response was generally good. We spoke to them as they arrived and whilst on the forecourt. The message as simple – please don’t buy petrol here, better still think whether your car journey is necessary. At least ten cars simply drove away from the garage in the hour and a half we were there, which must have cost them a few hundred pounds.

The leaflet is available at: http://af-north.org/shell/rossport.htm (text below).

For more local information, please contact us at: shelltosea@af-north.org

More information about the campaign can be got from: www.indymedia.ie/mayo
Information about Shell to Sea: http://www.shelltosea.com/
Rossport Solidarity Camp: http://www.struggle.ws/rsc/ or www.rossportsolidaritycamp.com

——————

Buy your petrol somewhere else today.

Shell has a terrible record of destroying the environment and the communities unlucky enough to live near their exploration sites.
On the west coast of Ireland, in an area called Erris, in County Mayo, they have found gas. They want to bring it ashore and refine it in an area which is unspoilt and undeveloped. The result will be the total destruction of the local area and the lives of the people who live there.
Already five men have spent three months in prison for protesting about Shell’s plans. The local people have fought long and hard to stop work at the refin ery. Now Shell and the Irish police are attacking these same people daily to allow construction to go ahead.

Help show you are opposed to their destruction of Erris and the way they vandalise our planet. Buy your petrol somewhere else. Better
still, think whether you need all those car journeys. Hurt them in their pockets. It’s the only way to make Shell see sense.
Manchester Shell to Sea: shelltosea@ af- north. org

Safe Haven Pipeline Demo update & contact details

18.11.2006

since thursday a group protesting about lack of safety regulations and public consultation have been blocking the laying of the pipeline right next to the LNG constryction site – they are digging in for the long haul!

18.11.2006

since thursday a group protesting about lack of safety regulations and public consultation have been blocking the laying of the pipeline right next to the LNG constryction site – they are digging in for the long haul!

Thanks to Schnews newsletter I got down to the demo yesterday afternoon to find 3 OAPS huddled in a tent on the public footpath which runs right through the middle of the massive construction site of the new Milford Haven LNG terminal.

The weather was appalling and they have already roughed it for one night. As soon as they had pitched camp on thursday hordes of cops and officials surrounded them with every manner of arc lights, generators, fenceposts, barbed wire and then packed up and went off to leave the site deserted for the weekend.

The owerwhelming presence of machinery and earthworks seems to blot out the existence of the Safe Haven protest group who are campaigning to have the official Risk Assessment report released for public consultation – apart from the actual pipeline there are grave concerns over the safety of the re-gassification plant. Previous accidents with this kind of technology have been known to produce fireballs of 27 square Km.

They have been trying to raise awareness of the issues ever since the virtaully non-existent public consultation for the Planning of this vast and unnecessary white elephant – which just turns out to be another pet project for the money-spinning Carlyle group [Bush and Saudi Patronage].

They are currently on a public footpath so there may be a struggle to evict them – basically they want to get the Safety report into the public arena and believe that if the facts are known they stand to gain considerable concessions even if the whole thing doesn’t get stopped completely.

Any support gratefully appreciated phone 07752 698489 for details

——————————————————————————————–

Anyone wishing to contact the camp at Tyn y Pant Farm in the Swansea Valley where protestors are occupying a length of pipe and have done since Sunday 12th November 2006 please telephone 07805 038725. The protest goes into it’s second week amidst amazing support from the people of the area who have had enough of being walked over by corporate business for the installation of a fossil fuel industrial sized pipeline to create a market for raped gas from foreign countries. Remember every time you turn on a gas flame or an electric light that it is not so that you can see or be warm but to enable someone, somewhere, probably not in your country, to make a profit.
We ask all those who come into contact with the fencing surrounding this pipeline to please tie a piece of green cloth or ribbon to the fence. One piece for every tree that has been destroyed in the wake of the pipeline, one ribbon for every person that will live in fear of this massive pipeline under their feet for the next 30 years if it is not stopped and one ribbon for every unnecessary death from terrorism and its causes
Thank you for your support all those who have already shown it.

Kebele’s 11th anniversary & benefit party

Raising the roof – 11th birthday & benefit party

It’s Kebele’s 11th anniversary, we now own the place outright, we’re revamping everything, and we’re even fixing the roof. So in true Kebele style, we are having a party – and you are all invited.

Kebele 11th birthday flier
Raising the roof – 11th birthday & benefit party

It’s Kebele’s 11th anniversary, we now own the place outright, we’re revamping everything, and we’re even fixing the roof. So in true Kebele style, we are having a party – and you are all invited.

Friday 8 December, 10pm to very late.
The Black Swan, 438 Stapleton Rd, Bristol, BS5 6NR
5 quid on the door

Bands (from hilarious chap rock to stomping ska via east European folk and demon grunge):
Don Bradmans, The Great Escape, Malarchy, Spanner, Jesus Bruiser

DJs & sound systems across the tribes:
Tossers, Positive Vibration, Idren, Akimbo, Inspiration Vibration, Enjoyment Service

Plus Cabaret, Café n snacks, Bonfire, Info.

Full details and poster/flyer downloads go to http://www.kebelecoop.org/events_11thParty.html

Background info:

For 11 years Kebele has provided a self organised space for radical politics in Easton, Bristol. From squatted beginnings and resisted eviction to fully fledged housing co-op and volunteer-run anarchist social centre, it’s a long story with plenty of ups and downs, gigs, meetings, parties and cafes along the way. Sometimes it’s really hard work, but there’s so much to learn from organising collectively without leaders and sustaining a street level community project.

It’s inspiring to see our principles still intact and at the heart of all Kebele does: equality, inclusion, shared responsibility, co-operation, solidarity, not for profit, direct action. These are more than empty, lifeless buzzwords. Kebele aims to be a reflection of the world we want to see in our everyday actions and organising; a living, working example of what we’re told is not possible…

See http://www.kebelecoop.org for Kebele’s history and what’s on now. See also http://bristol.indymedia.org/newswire.php?story_id=25553 for recent news.

Kebele, 14 Robertson Rd, Bristol, BS5 6JY
kebelesocialcentre@riseup.net
http://www.kebelecoop.org

Stop the pipeline! info flyer + events this week (& second camp started)

Stop the Pipeline!!
Land and homes across Wales are currently being destroyed for a huge, unsafe gas pipeline. Is this the best way to tackle climate change?

Trebanos pipeline 1Stop the Pipeline!!
Land and homes across Wales are currently being destroyed for a huge, unsafe gas pipeline. Is this the best way to tackle climate change?

What’s wrong with the pipeline?

The pipeline will be 150 miles long from Milford Haven through the Brecon Beacons into Gloucester, making it the biggest pipeline of its kind in Europe, cutting a chunk the width of a motorway. Despite concerns about on going climate chaos the government is putting their energy and resources into digging up beautiful countryside and people’s homes for more non-renewable energy, rather than building for alternatives like solar, wind and hydro power.

Locals groups have formed in resistance to the pipeline. Many feel they have not been properly consulted, some feel bullied and deceived, on an issue that affects them directly, with some people having their homes compulsorily purchased. There have also been many safety concerns as people feel the government have rushed plans through without proper health and safety checks. For example, it’s being built on the only earthquake zone in Britain, parts of it is on land that’s deemed too unstable for houses and the gas is odourless so locals wouldn’t know if there was a leak. In Trebanos, near Swansea, it was decided the land was too unstable for mains gas pipelines to the village and now they’re building Europe’s biggest gas pipeline!

What’s been happening this week?

Due to the absurdity of these plans, and the fact that no amount of campaigning has had an effect, people have recently taken direct action to stop work along the pipeline. At 5.30am last Monday (12th November) activists entered the worksite with some people climbing on to machinery and others occupying parts of the pipeline. The protestors have claimed squatter’s rights on a section of pipeline and have successfully stopped work since Monday. On Thursday 16th another protest site was started by concerned families in Milford Haven in solidarity with the protestors in Trabanos. There is also a green ribbon campaign for locals to show support for the protest.

What next?

A mass bike ride has been organized for Friday 24th November to raise awareness and show opposition to the gas pipe line. Meet outside Y Mochyn Du pub in Sophia gardens at 3.30pm.

More people are joining the camps as we speak but help and support are always needed, anyone with spare time is welcome to join in.
For regular updates and information see www.indymedia.org.uk

Daughters of Rebecca at Faslane

Approximately 100 people from across Wales took part in the rolling 1-year Faslane 365 campaign over three days this week (Mon 13th – Wed 15th November). 19 protesters including eight teenagers, some of whom were as young as 14, were arrested for blockading the nuclear base. Those under 16 were almost immediately de-arrested by the police, but those aged 16 and over are treated as adults in Scottish law and were detained overnight in police cells along with everyone else. Warning letters from the procurator fiscal were issued to arrestees on their release. Since the campaign began on October 1st, only one Faslane 365 case has been referred to court.

Faslane Wales 1
Faslane Wales 2Approximately 100 people from across Wales took part in the rolling 1-year Faslane 365 campaign over three days this week (Mon 13th – Wed 15th November). 19 protesters including eight teenagers, some of whom were as young as 14, were arrested for blockading the nuclear base. Those under 16 were almost immediately de-arrested by the police, but those aged 16 and over are treated as adults in Scottish law and were detained overnight in police cells along with everyone else. Warning letters from the procurator fiscal were issued to arrestees on their release. Since the campaign began on October 1st, only one Faslane 365 case has been referred to court.

The South Wales group brought with them a contingent of the Rebel Clown Army, a giant red dragon and assorted politicians, while the North Wales group included a sizeable group of “Merched Beca” (Daughters of Rebecca) with voluminous skirts, bonnets and blackened faces. The actions of Merched Beca in 1839-44, where protesters dressed up in women’s clothes and destroyed much-hated toll gates in Wales, led directly to a Royal Commission to examine the issue, and by 1844 most of the remaining toll gates had been legally removed, allowing ordinary people to move freely along the roads. The 21st Century Daughters of Rebecca hope that their nonviolent direct action as part of Faslane 365 will bring about the decommissioning and dismantling of Britain’s nuclear weapons, allowing taxes to be diverted to more useful purposes.

wrexhamsaw@yahoo.com
http://www.wpjf.org.uk

London neighbourhood Climate Camp Meeting 2 December

London neighbourhood meeting to plan for the next climate camp, lets get this thing rolling!

The Camp for Climate Action was packed with workshops and debates, the camp was a space to pool knowledge, ideas and inspiration to tackle the greatest threat to life on Earth. Under the shadow of 12 huge cooling towers we converged to take action on the biggest CO2 emitter in northern Europe: Drax power station.

London neighbourhood meeting to plan for the next climate camp, lets get this thing rolling!

The Camp for Climate Action was packed with workshops and debates, the camp was a space to pool knowledge, ideas and inspiration to tackle the greatest threat to life on Earth. Under the shadow of 12 huge cooling towers we converged to take action on the biggest CO2 emitter in northern Europe: Drax power station.

At the follow up meeting held in Manchester it was decieded that another camp would be held and that there would be regional meetings before the national gathering in Leeds on January 13 and 14. The London neighbourhood meeting will be held at the London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, on December 2 at 1 o’clock. see you there!

for more info see
www.climatecamp.org.uk
www.lonodnarc.org