29 July 2013
Update (11:00pm): Day 6! of the blockade tomorrow. Come down and support the community tomorrow.
29 July 2013
Update (11:00pm): Day 6! of the blockade tomorrow. Come down and support the community tomorrow.
Update (3:30pm): Blockade growing, as is size of police escorts for fracking trucks. Come to Balcombe and lend your support!
Update (3:30pm): 3 more people arrested defending Sussex from fracking. Come support Balcombe!
Update (2:30pm): 4 arrests so far at the community blockade today. Come down and support the fight against fracking!
Update (2:05pm): 8 months pregnant local mother shoved out of way by police. Shame!
Update (2:00pm): Large police presence and getting more hostile. Come support the commnity
Update (1:00pm): Police trying to push trucks through the blockade again
Update (1:00pm): Trucks brought to a halt for the moment. Police discussing what to do. Come on down!
Update (10:30am): One person arrested at community fracking blockade in Balcombe. Come and support the community in the fight against fracking.
Update (10:15am): Trucks backing up in village. Waiting to try and break the blockade. Come down now!
Update (10:00am): Police trying to escort truck through community fracking blockade. Come support the community fighting fracking in Sussex!
Update (9:55am): Police massing to try to break through the community blockade. Come down if you can!
Update (9:40am): Trucks expected to start arriving soon. Come on down!
Update (8:00am): No trucks so far. Come down and support the community in the fight against fracking!
Update (7:00pm): Police begin arriving for day. 30 people stayed at the camp overnight. Comes down and support the community.
Community Fracking Blockade Holding Back Truck In Balcombe
Police Escort For Fracking Truck At Balcombe Blockade
Size Of Police Escort For Fracking Trucks Has Been Doubled
People Sit In Road Blocking Fracking Truck From Entering Cuadrilla’s Site
People Link Arms To Defend Balcombe From Fracking
Blocking Fracking Truck Outside Cuadrilla’s Site In Balcombe
8 Months Pregnant Local Mother Being Shoved By Police
Pregnant Local Mother Being Comforted After Police Attack
People Rush Out To Defend Balcombe From Another Fracking Truck
Community Blocks Truck From Entering Fracking Site
Police Trying To Break The Community Blockade In Balcombe
Police Withdraw To Wait For The Next Fracking Truck To Arrive
Large Numbers Of The Community Blockade In Balcombe
Local Mother At The Community Blockade In Balcombe
Large Police Presence At Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe
A Quick Break For Lunch At The Community Blockade In Balcombe
Another Local Balcombe Family Joins The Blockade
Police Trying To Force Another Truck Through The Community Blockade
Camp At The Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe
Camp At The Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe
Camp At The Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe
Camp Well Supplied With Biscuits Due To Generous Donations
Families At The Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe
Community Distressed As Cuadrilla Tries To Force Fracking On Balcombe
Truck Out Of Resident’s Bedroom Window This Morning In Balcombe
Police Attempting To Break Through Community Blockade
Police Massing To Attempt To Break Through Community Blockade
Damage To Newly Resurfaced Road Out Fracking Site Due To Trucks
All Quiet On The West Sussex Front
No Names, No Frack Drill.
Day 5 of Balcombe village's struggle against Frack Attack (Update)
Update – Day 5 – Monday 29th July
Day 5 of Balcombe village's struggle against Frack Attack (Update)
Update – Day 5 – Monday 29th July
After a relatively quiet day on Sunday, today Monday, saw many vehicles arriving on site. Each delivery was met with heavy resistance. A heavily pregnant woman attempted to stop one of the trucks but was forced away as things got dodgy and dangerous. At the same time a man was arrested and brutally wrestled to the ground with a suspected broken arm.
For the rest of the afternoon more deliveries regularly turned up but only got through with police marching in front of each HGV and clashing with protesters attempting to stop them. A later delivery of office furniture saw a sit-down protest that resulted in a more significant delay and yet another arrest.
Perhaps as a sign of the struggle ahead the police have installed a mobile office on site and a casual conversation with one cop made it obvious that the police think they are there for the long haul. Some protesters thought it might pay to also set up a solicitor's office and branch of Infinity Foods alongside.
Last Week
After Thursday's successful stand -off, Friday saw ninety police deployed to force the first of Cuadrilla's trucks through the human barricades in front of the site gates. As protestors linked arms the cops began to make the first arrests.
Altogether sixteen arrests were made – using a section of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992 , which was legislation first brought in to target flying pickets during industrial disputes. Two more were arrested on Saturday morning. Obviously Cuadrilla have now managed to start getting trucks in – but they're on a tight schedule with their drilling licence over by October. Allegedly they were supposed to get drilling today (Saturday) but that's been put back until Monday already. According to Anna Dark, a community representative “They need to get forty days of drilling done before the end of their licence, they've lost a day already – we can stop this!”
Cuadrilla's planning permission only allows for vehicle movements at certain times – they were supposed to stop at 1 pm today. Sussex cops started off claiming that there was an extension but backed down in the face of irate villagers demands to see the paperwork.
Undeterred by the show of repression a large protest camp has sprung up along the verge and with 90% of Balcombe village residents saying they're in favour of direct action this one could run and run.
SchNEWS has heard that there will be no truck movements tomorrow but there will be transport heading from Brighton up to the drilling site – leaving at 9 a.m from outside RBS on the Old Steine
For continuous updates and how to get involved http://frack-off.org.uk
or phone 07858 614861/07 944 087 421
Myanmar Activist Jailed 10 years For Anti-Mine Protest
28 July 2013 A court in central Myanmar has s
28 July 2013 A court in central Myanmar has sentenced an activist to a decade in prison for “threatening national security” after he led a protest against a controversial China-backed copper mine which led to clashes with authorities, according to a fellow campaigner.
Judge Kaythi Hlaing of the Shwebo city court handed Aung Soe, an activist with Myanmar’s People’s Support Network, the 10-year sentence on Monday after convicting him on eight charges linked to the violence on April 25, Moe Moe, also of the activist’s group, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
The group had backed hundreds of farmers protesting the alleged seizure of their land by Wan Bao Company, which runs the copper mine near Mount Letpadaung in northern Burma’s Sagaing division.
The clashes broke out after security forces moved in to stop the farmers from plowing their fields on the contested land. At least ten protesting farmers were injured, some of them reportedly with gunshot wounds, while 15 policemen were also wounded.
Aung Soe “was sentenced under eight charges, including for threatening religious purity and national security, and for illegal assembly,” Moe Moe said Tuesday.
“He was sentenced at the Shwebo court by the judge, Daw Kaythi Hlaing,” he said, using an honorific title.
Two residents of Setae village, near the Letpadaung copper mine, named Soe Thu and Maung San, were also sentenced for “violating orders” and “inciting riots,” Moe Moe added.
He did not say how long the two villagers were sentenced to prison.
Moe Moe said that Aung Soe’s lawyer will appeal his conviction.
Suspended operations
An inquiry commission in Myanmar ruled in March that the copper mine should be allowed to continue despite widespread objections.
But nearly four months later, operations at the facility remain suspended with protesting villagers refusing to accept compensation offers.
Operations at the mine have been suspended since November, when a brutal crackdown on protests against the mine prompted the government to set up the commission to look into the project’s viability.
The commission recommended that the project should be allowed to move ahead despite conceding that it brought only “slight” benefits to the nation.
Since then, villagers who are mostly farmers have staged regular protest against the mine, complaining that the compensation was not enough and calling for a complete halt to the project.
Some 15 protesters—both local residents and activists from Yangon—are wanted by the authorities over demonstrations against the mine in recent months.
Villagers have said that they do not want pollution from the mine to destroy the area and that authorities have confiscated some 8,000 acres (3,000 hectares) of farmland from 26 villages to make way for the mine.
Hundreds Protest Nickel Mine In Russia, Previous Clashes Resulted in Torched Equipment
28 July 2013 VORONEZH — Hundreds of people gathered in a small town in Voronezh region on Sunday for a new protest in their year-lon
28 July 2013 VORONEZH — Hundreds of people gathered in a small town in Voronezh region on Sunday for a new protest in their year-long campaign against plans to open a nickel and copper mine in the area, police officials said.
The demonstration was organized by the local anti-mine movement and residents of Novokhopersk who called for halting the mining project. The rally organizers said that about 3,000 people took part in the demonstration, including those from neighboring provinces, while the police put the number at 900.
It is the first mass gathering of the campaigners after the 13-month standoff exploded last month with a crowd of several hundred storming the premises of a geological exploration party and torching cars, construction trailers and drilling rigs.
The miner, privately owned Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company (UMMC), has denied that its mine would harm the environment.
Portland Activists Blockade Columbia River in Symbolic Protest Against Fossil Fuel Shipments
28th July 2013
28th July 2013
In a day-long affair involving hundreds of activists, the Portland Rising Tide and 350.org collaboration, Summer Heat, went off yesterday without a hitch.
Activists congregated in the morning at the Vancouver Landing in Vancouver, Washington, where the port authorities recently OKed a terminal to ship hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil carried on trains from the Bakken Shale.
Hosting info sessions about free trade agreements, direct action, and infrastructure resistance, the event carried a festive air into the early afternoon. By 3pm, around 250 activists in more than 100 boats took to the river for a symbolic blockade and massed under the Columbia Bridge.
More activists gathered on the bridge, and three climbers repelled down with a long, transparent banner that read, “Coal, Oil, Gas: None Shall Pass.”
“It went as well as I thought it could have,” stated one Rising Tide activist to EF! News. Although the FBI had been snooping around in the weeks prior to the event, the crowd that came out to the protest showed that they will not be intimidated.
Police presence was relatively minimal at the protest compared to other Rising Tide and Occupy actions that have occurred. Nobody was arrested, and the message was sent: Expect Resistance.
Summer Heat was only a high point in what has been a long, hard, and in many ways successful struggle, which has seen three three proposed coal terminals shut down so far. Today, Portland Rising Tide looks invigorated, confident, and more dedicated than ever to the mission of stopping climate change.
The Great Gas Gala – Day 4 In Pictures
28 July 2013
28 July 2013
Update (11:30pm): 80 people staying at the camp tonight. Come down tomorrow bright and early to support the community against the fracking threat.
Update (7:00pm): Green and Black Cross ‘Know Your Rights’ workshop at camp now. If you’re can’t attend, do your homework here: http://greatgasgala.org.uk/know-your-rights/
Update (2:50pm): Cops throwing their weight around. Trying to force people t move a couple of feet for no particular reason, but nothing major.
Update (2:00pm): Blockade continuing to grow. About 80 people now. Locals bring down food to feed everyone
Update (12:45pm): Today the camp is mostly building showers & a toilet – relaxed & enjoying the sun
Update (12:00pm): Community blockade still going strong. Camp growing with 30 people staying overnight and more streaming in now. Check of the camp wish list if you are coming down.
Camp At The Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe
Family At The Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe
Camp At The Community Fracking Blockade In Balcombe
Balcombe Resident Reading Sunday Papers At The Camp
Anti-Fracking Scarecrow Doing Its Job In Balcombe
Rebel Clowns Target Fracking in Scotland
27 July 2013 Yesterday morning a hoard of clowns descended on the government Directorate for Planning and Environmental Affairs to deliver a special anti-fracking message to the powers that be.
27 July 2013 Yesterday morning a hoard of clowns descended on the government Directorate for Planning and Environmental Affairs to deliver a special anti-fracking message to the powers that be.
Frack your own back garden
Dirty Dangerous Disastor
At 8.30am yesterday morning, anti-fracking activists gathered for a clowning action at the Directorate for Planning and Environmental Affairs (DPEA) in Falkirk. Dressed in colourful clown costumes a group of 17 activists mocked the dangers of fracking with ridiculous play. Clowns burst in to the car park with music, banners and a fracking tower as bemused workers looked on. Games continued to the to town centre to raise awareness among the public.
A spokesperson for the actions said “we are here today to highlight the absurdity of going down yet another route of non-renewable energy that is a short term and dangerous solution to a long term energy/carbon problem with it's own set of potentially devastating environmental consequences.
“Despite mounting evidence of the dangers of fracking contaminating local water supplies releasing high carbon methane gas and risk of catastrophic explosions, the government is committed to giving fracking multi-nationals the green light, placing profit over local opposition and the potential for environmental destruction.
“We are here to show those making the decision about DART Energy’s application to frack in the Falkirk and other areas, that opposition to these irresponsible operations is mounting. We are here in support of local opposition to the plans and ongoing international opposition to fracking elsewhere.” (1)
The DPEA was targeted as clown investigations uncovered evidence that the decision on what happens next with the fracking plans in Scotland’s central belt will be taken there by government civil servants(2). This follows DART Energy’s appeal to the Scottish government when Falkirk and Stirling councils failed to make the decision due to resistance from local communities, and a lack of credible information on health and environmental concerns(3).
The action happened amid growing concerns over both the Westminster and Holyrood governments' current favouring of short sighted, lucrative non-renewable energy plans, despite their alleged commitments to cutting carbon and pursuing renewable energy resources. Last week George Osbourne announced tax breaks for fracking firms operating within the UK (of 50% more than other energy companies(4). This break was championed by Lynton Crosby, the Conservative Party Chief Strategist and the man responsible for promoting shale gas fracking in Australia. Crosby's PR firm “Crosby Textor” also represents the Australian Petroleum Exploration Association, of which DART is a subsidiary.
This action was organised by Reclaim the Fields and continuity factions of the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army. Anti-frackilicious!
NOTES
2. http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/cgc/pnas2011.pdf
3. http://www.dpea.scotland.gov.uk/CaseDetails.aspx?id=qA355856
4. http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/jul/19/david-cameron-fracking-lynton-crosby
All-Night Anti-Shale Gas Truck Seizure, Road Block, Ends Peacefully Despite RCMP Negotiation Failure
Last night, July 27th,
Last night, July 27th, about 35 anti-shale gas activists blockaded a 20 ton truck, subcontracted to SWN Resources Canada, for over 8 hours. The truck, filled with helicopter bags – each containing dozens of geophones – was attempting to exit southward along Irving Road, a back road west of highway 126 in New Brunswick. The truck, as well as eight other equipment trucks subcontracted to SWN, were conducting seismic testing in the hopes of finding shale gas deposits along a 35.9 kilometer north-south line known as ‘Line 5′. All the equipment and workers were halted until about 3:30am Atlantic Time.
The 3 hour work stoppage was meant to occur at the end of the workday. It would appear that RCMP had agreed to this temporary block.
However, when the 20 ton truck was first blocked at about 5pm – in front of an already heavy police presence – the RCMP immediately blocked in the activists who surrounded the truck. At the time there were about 35 activists at the scene, and word began to trickle in to those encamped that an RCMP roadblock at the entrance to Irving Road – about 16 kilometers to the south – was not allowing anyone to pass. This was apparently counter to the original agreement, and began what was to be a standoff that continued until the early morning hours.
RCMP and the ‘Elsipogtog Peacekeepers’ – a group of three individuals on Elsipogtog Band payroll who ostensibly serve as a neutral party – did not seem able or desirous of undoing the police roadblock that was refusing all entry. The activists requests were initially straightforward, only asking that anyone wishing to attend their ceremony be allowed to drive the 16 kilometer distance. The activists also specifically requested a drum leader and a pipe carrier to assist them. Social media sources continued to note that a sizable line of cars was still being refused entry.
Tensions further increased at about 7:30pm when Annie Clair, also known as ‘Pochahontas’ to the anti-shale gas activists, climbed atop the roof of the seized truck and chained and padlocked herself to a spare tire mounting welded to the roof. She was quickly joined by two other activists, one of whom also chained herself to the roof while the other locked herself to a helicopter bag filled with geo-phones.
Clair, who only days before had tied herself to helicopter bags and had halted work at a helicopter launching site, was defiant in her message to the gathered police force, noting that if they were going to shoot her, to go ahead.
RCMP and the Peacekeepers again continued to ‘negotiate’, but did not seem able to relay the message to the RCMP blockade that the first step towards resolving the standoff was to allow traffic to flow freely. Activists, for their part, remained adamant that the 3 hours they were promised for ceremony would only begin once the RCMP blockade was removed and their supporters could join them. As the hours of standoff continued, and food and water were denied to the activists, RCMP marched in formation through the blockade with numerous boxes of pizza and cases of water.
Eventually, one of the Elsipogtog Elders – also a clan mother – begged Clair to unchain herself and descend from the truck roof. With social media now reaching something of a frenzied pitch – and stories of dozens of police cruisers and paddy wagons waiting for the activists, Clair complied. Indeed, the activists were now visibly blocked in by numerous police trucks and cruisers. Infrared lights shone from some of the RCMP cars and a large spotlight was erected shining directly onto the activists’ makeshift encampment.
RCMP negotiators noted that they would not arrest anyone that night, but made no guarantees that future days might not see activists picked off one by one in house arrests. As has been the case since early June when active protests began against shale gas exploration in Kent County, yesterday police made no secret of their heavy surveillance of the action. At 3:30am, as activists moved their trucks and cars off the road, it became clear that an entire SWN work crew had been stopped. With a heavy police escort, eight SWN trucks emerged from a side road and quickly sped past the gathered crowd. With no equipment or SWN workers left to guard, the RCMP quickly left the scene as well.
The Great Gas Gala – Day 3 In Pictures
27 July 2013
Update (4:30pm): Community blockade now has a pool table. Relaxed atmosphere now Caudrilla have been stopped for rest of the day. Join us!
27 July 2013
Update (4:30pm): Community blockade now has a pool table. Relaxed atmosphere now Caudrilla have been stopped for rest of the day. Join us!
Update (3:10pm): Community blockade still growing with about 200 people. Police have announced that because of community concerns there will be no more deliveries today! Seems like Cuadrilla have been breaking conditions of their planning permission with the vehicle delivery times. Don’t hold your breath for anyone to be arrested and tortured over that though.
Update (1:40pm): About 100 people at the community blockade. Large numbers of police in wedge formations being used to try to push fracking trucks through community resistance. Police helicopter overhead.
Update (1:20pm): West Sussex County Council Highways called to patch up road damage caused by the few trucks that have already made it onto site.
Update (1:00pm): Large numbers of police being used to force through Cuadrilla’s fracking trucks against will of community. Come lend your support if you can!
Update (12:40pm): Police trying to get another truck through. The community is resisting. Come support them if you can!
Update (12:00pm): Second arrest of the day! Do come down and support the community if you can!
Update (11:55am): Another truck is being stopped by the community blockade
Update (11:15am): Numbers building at the camp and the weather is good. Do come down and join if you can!
Update (10:00am): Reinforcements arrive on the bus from Brighton but more needed. Come on down!
Update (9:45am): One Sussex resident arrested after sitting in front of truck.
Update (9:35am): Road closed and police trying to escort truck through community blockade. Get down to help if you can!
Update (8:55am): Police numbers increasing. Get down to help if you can!
Update (8:45am): Truck turned away from fracking site! Come down and join the blockade!
Update (8:00am): Sussex residents blocking site entrance again! Come down if you can!
Update (7:30am): Camp still going strong. Come on down!
Community Blockade At Balcombe Now Has A Pool Table
Community Blockade At Balcombe Still Growing
Council Workers Patch Road Damage After Just a Few Fracking Trucks Have Gone In
Large Numbers Of Police Being Used Force Fracking Trucks Through Community Resistance
Police Guard Truck Load Of Fracking Chemicals
Community Blocks Fracking Truck From Entering Site
Police Try To Escort Another Truck Through The Community Blockade
Police Try To Escort Another Truck Through The Community Blockade
Another Truck Blocked At Site Entrance
Numbers Building At The Camp And Weather Is Good
Kitchen At The Community Blockade In Balcombe
Toxic Cuadrilla Scarecrow At The Community Blockade
Bus Load Of People From Brighton Arrive To Help Their Neighbours
Police Attempt To Escort Truck Through Community Blockade
Five Police Vans Arrive At Fracking Site
Attempts To Halt Deliveries To Fracking Site Continuing
Hundreds Halt Fracking Operations in Susex
In the early hours of the morning, anti-fracking activists and community members in Balcombe, Sussex, UK, successfully halted the first day of explorations for a new shale gas development by famed (infamous, rather) fracking company Cuadrilla. Over 250 people united in a powerful, peaceful, joyful blockade—that eventually convinced the trucks containing the initial fracking equipment to abandon the site.
This is community power at its best. Campaigners in Balcombe, just like those in frontline communities around the world (in the U.S., Indonesia, Argentina and elsewhere) had been calling attention to the dangers of fracking for over a year. This week, when Cuadrilla’s license for exploration and development was approved, activists quickly mobilized to organize a Great Gas Gala, inviting people in Sussex and neighboring areas to converge on Balcombe and oppose Cuadrilla’s efforts.
Yesterday’s protests are set in the context of a recent announcement by the UK government proposing a 50 percent tax cut for companies involved in shale gas extraction, the most generous tax regime for fracking in the whole world. The proposal is very much in line with the dreaded “dash for gas” that Chancellor George Osborne announced at last year’s unveiling of the budget.
It is in opposition to these efforts that groups like Frack Off, No Dash for Gas and many of our partners and allies around the country, are mobilizing public awareness and opposition, in a genuine effort to shift the power in our energy systems and put our communities and their people back in charge. The Global Power Shift UK team will be working in the upcoming months on helping build that large, inclusive movement—one that represents community interests, leverages our diversity and builds on our shared vision of a people-powered future that solves the climate crisis once and for all.
The fight in Balcombe is not over yet. Yesterday’s exploratory fracking attempt was the closest to London to date, where a lot of the finance for these operations comes from and where the tangled webs of power and influence are carefully threaded between consenting politicians and short-term profit oriented fossil fuel corporate executives. Impunity for them and their climate-wrecking efforts? No longer. Real resistance is brewing in their backyard.