Action Reports – Page 117

Nine police injured in Stuttgart 21 clash

21 June 2011

Nine police were injured after clashes on Monday night between police and anti-Stuttgart 21 protesters who had stormed the controversial rail project, authorities announced.

21 June 2011

Nine police were injured after clashes on Monday night between police and anti-Stuttgart 21 protesters who had stormed the controversial rail project, authorities announced.

Eight officers suffered blast injuries when “TNT-bangers” – homemade firecrackers – were detonated near a police cordon. A ninth officer suffered unspecified injuries while trying to control the protests. Several demonstrators were arrested.

The site itself had “considerable damage,” after the attack, according to a police spokesman. The protesters had torn down a fence, let the air out of construction vehicle tyres and covered them with anti-Stuttgart-21 stickers, among other actions.

Around 400 protesters had gathered at the site Monday night, although they dispersed in the early hours. A group of protesters later attempted to block the entrance to the construction site but they left when ordered to do so by police.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many people had attacked the officers although police said several protesters had been arrested.

The incident followed a day of peaceful demonstrations, during which around 3,000 people rallied against the project.

Politicians called on protesters to refrain from violence.

“Violence will not hurt Stuttgart 21, but the protests against it,” said Winfried Hermann, the minister for transport in the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Stuttgart 21 consists of a massive construction effort, involving rebuilding the city’s main train station underground and turning it around 90 degrees, as well as laying 57 kilometres of new tracks. The aim is to make the city a major European rail hub.

But opponents mounted massive protests against the project last year, calling it too expensive and unnecessary. In October, more than 100 demonstrators were injured in a violent clash with police.

The demonstration was followed by lengthy talks between state officials, national rail provider Deutsche Bahn and Stuttgart 21 opponents. But officials ultimately decided to go ahead with the project after making a few minor changes to plans.

Some believed the state’s new left-leaning government would more strongly challenge the project because the Greens opposed it before the the election, but they have so far failed to do so.

But state leaders have promised citizens will have the opportunity to vote on the future of the project, probably in the autumn.

http://www.thelocal.de/tag/Stuttgart_21

ELF SOLIDARITY WITH LUCIANO / “TORTUGA”

anonymous report, from BlackBlocg.info (visit the site for additional reports of ELF actions in Russia):

"ELF-Russia claims responsibility for firebombing of a Lexus/Toyota car dealership in Western Moscow on june the 21st.

anonymous report, from BlackBlocg.info (visit the site for additional reports of ELF actions in Russia):

"ELF-Russia claims responsibility for firebombing of a Lexus/Toyota car dealership in Western Moscow on june the 21st.

Four luxury cars (of them – 3 Lexus SUVs) were lost to a firebomb explosion (butane gas canisters, gasoline and a fuse), according to corporate media repors.

Best wishes to Luciano! The Struggle continues!

ELF-Russia, International Network of Action and Solidarity / International Revolutionary Front"

*Luciano "Tortuga" Pitronello is a Chilean activist who was seriously injured on June 1 when a device he was placing outside a bank in Santiago exploded prematurely.

Police used excessive force on San Francisco Peaks defenders

19.6.11
Protest Halts Snowbowl Waste water Pipeline Construction End Destruction and Desecration of Holy San Francisco Peaks

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Navajos and others defending sacred San Francisco Peaks said police used excessive force on those taking action to defend the Peaks from the use of sewage water for snowmaking on the mountain. Native American medicine men conduct ceremonies on the mountain, and gather herbs for healing ceremonies, on the Peaks, long sacred to 13 area American Indian Nations.

“Those who cut us out endangered our well being ignoring the screams to stop. They treated our bodies the way they’re treating this holy mountain. If they had their way, we wouldn’t even exist. There is more danger in doing nothing. To idly stand by and allow this destruction and desecration is to allow cultural genocide,” said one of the young woman who locked down.

At sunrise on Thursday, June 16, 2011, more than a dozen people stopped ski area construction on the Holy San Francisco Peaks. Six individuals used various devices to lock themselves to heavy machinery and to each other inside the waste water pipeline trench, the six arrested said in a statement released Sunday, June 19.

Kristopher Barney, Dine’ (Navajo) and one of the six who locked himself to an excavator stated, “This is a continuation of years of prayers and resistance. It is our hope that all Indigenous Peoples, and all others, throughout the North, East, South and West come together to offer support to the San Francisco Peaks and help put a stop to Snowbowl’s plan to further destroy and desecrate such a sacred, beautiful and pristine mountain!”

“What part of sacred don’t they understand? Through our actions today, we say enough! The destruction and desecration has to end!” said Marlena Teresa Garcia, 16, a young Diné woman and one of the six who chose to lock down. “The Holy San Francisco Peaks is home, tradition, culture, and a sanctuary to me, and all this is being desecrated by the Arizona Snowbowl Ski Resort. So now I, as a young Diné woman, stand by Dook’o’osliid’s side taking action to stop cultural genocide. I encourage all indigenous youth to stand against the desecration that is happening on the Holy San Francisco Peaks and all other sacred sites,” said Garcia after being arrested and released.

Those arrested decribed the action and excessive police force in their statement released Sunday:

A banner was hung on the side of the trench that read “Defend the Sacred!” where two protesters were locked together. Over the half mile of open construction, the group chanted, “Protect Sacred Sites, Defend Human Rights!”, “No desecration for recreation!” “Stop the cultural genocide! Protect the Peaks!” and “Human health over corporate wealth.”

“This waste water pipeline will poison the environment and to children who may eat snow made from it. Snowbowl plans to spray millions of gallons of waste water snow, which is filled with cancer causing and other harmful contaminants, as well as clear-cut over 30,000 trees. The Peaks are a pristine and beautiful place, a fragile ecosystem, and home to rare and endangered species of plants and animals,” said Evan Hawbaker, one of the protesters who locked themselves to the excavator.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Forest Service, the City of Flagstaff Mayor and Council, and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality are all responsible for permitting Snowbowl to endanger public health, destroy the environment, and desecrate the Holy Peaks,” said Nadia del Callejo, one of the protesters who locked themselves in the trench.

“Throughout history, acts of resistance and civil disobedience have been taken by young and old against injustices such as this. This action is not isolated but part of a. continued resistance to human rights violations, to colonialism, to corporate greed, and destruction of Mother Earth,” added Del Callejo.

A separate group of supporters, some wearing hazmat suits, “quarantined” the entrance to Snowbowl Road. Banners were stretched across the road that read “Protect Sacred Sites” and “Danger! Health Hazard – Snowbowl.”

Shortly after initiating the action, a Snowbowl security guard spotted two people locked to an excavator. By 6:00 a.m. more than 15 armed agents, including the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department, City of Flagstaff Police, and the FBI stormed the mountain.

At approximately 7:30 a.m., the Flagstaff Fire Department, assisted by County Sheriffs, started aggressively cutting two people from the excavator.

“We took every possible measure to ensure our safety. Our actions were taken to safeguard Indigenous Peoples’ cultural survival, our community’s health and this sensitive mountain ecosystem. Those who cut us out endangered our well being ignoring the screams to stop. They treated our bodies the way they’re treating this holy mountain. If they had their way, we wouldn’t even exist. There is more danger in doing nothing. To idly stand by and allow this destruction and desecration is to allow cultural genocide,” said one of the young woman who locked down.

“The police’s use of excessive force was in complete disregard for my safety. They pulled at my arms and forced my body and head further into the machine, all the while using heavy duty power saws within inches of my hand,” said Hawbaker.

After being cut out, the two were treated by paramedics and arrested for trespassing. The police, firefighters, and paramedics then proceeded to cut two people locked in a nearby trench.

Extraction took about forty minutes and the two were immediately seen by paramedics after being unlocked. One of the individuals sustained injuries to their arm from abusive force. Both were charged with trespassing, with an added charge of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” for one of the individuals. Police proceeded to unlock the last group who was also inside the trench nearby.

“Our only offense was resistance; resistance of the implications that’s Snowbowl’s development exudes. The police’s defense was to implement tactics of fear to reach a goal, essentially to continue construction as soon as possible. Our safety was prioritized second to Snowbowl’s demands. I was one of the demonstrators in the trench, locked at the neck with a partner. I was not aggressive. My lock was sawed through, inches away from both of our heads, secured solely and recklessly by the hands of a deputy. During the process, we were repeatedly asked to chant to reaffirm our consciousness. The police’s response was hasty, taking about ten minutes in total–it was dehumanizing,” said Haley Sherwood, one of the last protester to be cut out.

Both women were also seen by paramedics. One was sent to the hospital for heat exhaustion although she denied feeling dehydrated. She started to faint during the extraction when police, EMTs, and firefighters attempted to force the pair to stand and move them from their location. Both women repeatedly expressed that they were being hurt and choked by law enforcement officers and firefighters. Both of the protesters were arrested for trespassing, with additional charges to one of them for “contributing to the delinquency of a minor” and “endangerment.”

Four of the protesters were taken to County Jail. The two young people were taken to Coconino County Juvenile Detention Center. FBI agents attempted to question four of those arrested.

As word spread about the demonstration to protect the Peaks, overwhelming support and solidarity poured in from throughout the community and internationally.

Bail was raised shortly after the arrests. All demonstrators were released by 3:30 p.m. Three of the protesters, including Marlena Teresa Garcia, immediately filed a report for excessive use of force after being released.

“How can we be trespassers on our Holy Site?” questioned Barney. “I do not agree with these and the other charges, we will continue our resistance.”

—————-
Press contact for those defending San Francisco Peaks:
Contact: Beth Lavely Tel: 928.254.1064 protectpeaks@gmail.com

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Background – http://www.indigenousaction.org/

Call out for workshops for EF! Summer Gathering 2011

This year’s Earth First Summer Gathering takes place in East Anglia this year, starting on the 10th of August and running for five days. With six workshops tents we have space for over 100 discussions, presentations and workshops. The spaces are filling up fast, but there is still time to book a spot. So if you’ve got an idea you wish to highlight, whether it’s related to ecological defence or social resistance here is your chance. The gathering is attended by hundreds of individuals interested and participating in struggles around the UK and Europe.

To get in touch just email efsummergathering2011announce@riseup.net with a blurb of for you workshop or discussion and we’ll do our best to fit you in.

For monthly email updates for the gathering subscribe to efsummergathering@lists.riseup.net

Rossport Direct Action Training Weekend – 25-26 June

Come up for a weekend of direct action training, meet the community and see this incredible place.

If you came up for the Party Against the Pipe festival, this is a great chance to get more involved in the campaign.

Come up for a weekend of direct action training, meet the community and see this incredible place.

If you came up for the Party Against the Pipe festival, this is a great chance to get more involved in the campaign.

If you have ever wanted to take action and be part of the campaign, the time is now! All welcome, open to complete beginners-no experience necessary. Please try to arrive by the evening of Friday 24th if possible.

We are running direct action trainings here and around the country for people who want to take part in safe and effective protests. The training is aimed at complete beginners, covering your legal rights and different methods of protesting.

Get in touch if you would like us to give a direct action workshop in your area.

Food will be cooked communally, donations welcome.

Accommodation is available in the camp house or book in to the lovely Kilcommon lodge hostel http://www.kilcommonlodge.ie

The Shell to Sea campaign has successfully used direct action for the last 11 years to frustrate, delay and try to stop Shell’s destructive project. We take direct action because the Government has failed us and the authorities that are supposed to protect communities and the environment have refused to act. So we have no choice but to protect it ourselves. We also take action to inspire other communities to do the same. Whether it’s stopping Shell illegally drilling in a Special Area of Conservation or blocking the trucks carrying building materials for this experimental and dangerous project, using direct action works! So come along & get prepared…

Shell’s Corrib Gas Project is already decade late and 3 times over budget – impressive for a rural community fighting one of the biggest multinationals in the world!

There is a huge global history of direct action campaigns. Martin Luther King and Gandhi symbolise the most well known campaigns but there have been thousands of successful direct action campaigns in our history. Direct action was used during the anti-war campaign at Shannon airport, in the civil rights marches, during the amazing anti-nuclear campaign at Cansore Point and also to kick out dirty industries such as Raytheon, Merrell Dow and Raybestos Manhattan.

The Rossport Solidarity Camp has guidelines which state that all actions must be agreed by consensus at the camp. Direct action is used in parallel with other campaigning tools such as engaging in the planning process, lobbying, public meetings and taking legal challenges against Shell.

As Frederick Douglass, the US abolitionist orator said in 1857: “If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation…want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightening. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters…. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org/content/direct-action-training-weekend-25-26th-june

The Spuds don’t work. Norwich, noon, 23rd July 2011.

British trials of genetically modified blight resistant spuds have been failing for the last ten years. But a conventionally bred variety of blight resistant potatoes has been available for 3 years. So why are we still paying for their dangerous experiment?

Come ride with us on the back of a trailer load of safe effective spuds as we go to deliver them to the Sainsbury Laboratory outside Norwich. It’s one of only two possible open air trials for GM crops in Britain this year. Yet despite being publicly funded, it’s so secretive no one will even say if it’s been planted. Join us for tunes, chips and good cheer as we go and show them that we have already got the answers they say they’re looking for.

****************************************

*A tale of two spuds…*
For the last 10 years, researchers at the Sainsbury laboratory at the John Innes Centre in Norwich have spent 1.7 million pounds of public money failing to develop a genetically modified potato resistant to the fungal disease blight. This project is so secretive and unaccountable that the laboratory has refused to even confirm if a trial has been planted this season, or if they’ve been forced to abandon any hopes of making the technology work. Public rejection of the risks associated with eating genetically modified food means that even if the engineering involved was successful, there would be no market for the crop. Meanwhile, 3 years ago a small Welsh research charity dedicated to conventional breeding techniques developed a spud that is spectacularly resistant to blight. Not only does the crop pose no threat to health, the environment, or neighbouring farmers; it works. Over 6 different varieties are now available, and being grown on a commercial scale.

*Delivering the answer to GM crops- *

We think the Sainsbury’s laboratory and the government should be told that we’ve found the potatoes they’re looking for. So we’re going to deliver them to the doors of their research centre. We’ll be forming a carnival procession of families and farmers led by the next generation on pedal tractors, each towing a mini trailer of safe spuds. There’ll be pedal powered tunes, and a full sized tractor to jump on. There will almost certainly be chips.

*The rationale*
The campaign against GM crops ten years ago was so successful that GM almost completely vanished from our fields and supermarkets, and many people have forgotten the issues associated with the technology. But in many other parts of the world peasant farmers have been desperately fighting its spread, and laws are changing in Europe that would make it much easier for GM to be grown in Britain. Despite pre-election promises to the contrary the coalition claims it intends to be ‘the most pro GM this country has ever seen’.

Let’s call time on an outmoded technology that continues to waste money in failing projects, while simultaneously threatening the very science that’s actually producing working alternatives quickly and cheaply. For too long the biotech companies have gone unchallenged in their claims that GM can create genuinely useful crops when in fact all the significant advancements in the last decade have come through conventional breeding. With the renewed threat of GM on the horizon campaigners need to get together again to show the rest of the country (and each other) that we’re still here, and we’ve got an even better case than ever. This is a chance to take the initiative with the media, to tell a story which explains clearly and practically why the pro GM lobby is wrong. That it’s us, and not the corporations that have the answers to the food crisis. And we know how to turn them into an irresistible photo shoot.

*Our Key media messages*
Genetic Modification is unaccountable, expensive, and it doesn’t work. We need to stop wasting public money on something that no one wants and start celebrating the real advances in agriculture.

*What we need*

You, and the people you know, and anyone you think might be interested.

This project is being worked on by Stop GM in conjunction with the Genetic Engineering Network. It’s a grassroots initiative that evolved after one national gathering, several months of pondering and an over excited long weekend in Wales. Several experienced grassroots campaigners will be working on the project from now until the event, but we need help getting the word out. If you think you could help by distributing email information about the event, dropping it about in any social media you may be involved in, letting your local growing projects or social justice groups know, distributing our soon to be produced ‘Little Red Tractor and the Quest of the GM-free Spuds’ leaflet or even organizing a coach to attend from your area, we’d love to hear from you.

For more information please check briefing to help you object to proposed field trial of GM potatoes (http://www.gmfreeze.org/uploads/63A_spud_briefing_jic_final.pdf), and how to get hold of the solution www.sarvari-trust.org.

Please put it in your diary, forward this message on to anyone who might be interested, and hopefully we’ll see you there.

All the best,

The Stop GM Crew.

http://stopgm.org.uk/

Khimki Forest update and list of contractor offices

Russia’s Khimki Forest is not the peaceful place it used to be, back when it was a 200-year-old oak forest known for its ecological importance to the Moscow region.

Today, it is filled with the roar of bulldozers, and the screams of activists at night. For the last week, the Khimki Forest defenders…have been taking turns camping out to defend the forest from illegal cutting. Each night, they put their lives at risk and every day they have experienced escalating violence, including violent attacks by private security forces and unknown thugs. There have been injuries too—broken noses, head traumas—but it is not for naught. They have been somewhat successful in stopping the logging, at least temporarily.

“Dear all, as I suspected, many bad events happened. When it got dark, they turned on the harvester. They moved fast into the dip of the clearing. We ran after them from the camp. The securities did not let us go, they caught us by clothes and pushed us. But we went further and further, though slower. Then the harvester started to fell down the trees. We rushed through the guards to it. On a narrow place the guards stopped us again. We called Russian media, the members of the President Council, the deputies, and of course the police….”

ELF ACTIONS IN SOLIDARITY WITH MARIE AND ERIC, RUSSIA

reported anonymously:

“‘For me solidarity is a constant proposal to struggle, is the continuation and the development of the revolutionary action for which the comrade was captured’ – Gerasimos Tsakalos, Conspiracy Cells of Fire

Solidarity with Marie Mason and Eric McDavid – ELF actions in Moscow region of Russia

reported anonymously:

Solidarity with Marie Mason and Eric McDavid – ELF actions in Moscow region of Russia

01.06 we torched electrical measuring and control devices in 2 underground service booths of a water communication system that brings hot water to a military intelligence site in Butovskiy forest. To add to the fact that this infrastructure serves military personnel, more than 800 trees were cut during earthworks for this water supply line to even appear in the forest. To hamper service brigades further, we also spiked the road they use for maintaining the system.

05.06 we torched an excavator at a highway construction site west of Moscow (Volokolamsk direction).

06.00 and 10.06 we expropriated some construction equipment and destroyed geologists’ measurement posts in the glades of Butovskiy forest.

11.06 we broke into yet another underground service booth and put to fire all the digital and analogue devices and tools inside.

We dedicate these attacks to Marie Mason and Eric McDavid. We don’t have an honour of personal acquaintance with them, but their dedication to protecting our Planet and conscious choices they’ve made not only to act, but also to stand their ground in the wake of state repressions, inspire us and help us to continue on our path.

For Earth Liberation! For Human Liberation!

– ELF-Russia, Informal Anarchist Federation/ International Network of Action and Solidarity”

Indigenous groups lead blockade against gas hub in Australia

13.6.11
More than 70 protesters are still blocking the main access road to the site of Woodside’s proposed LNG precinct at James Price Point, 60km north of Broome.

A convoy of Woodside contractors has returned to Broome and no work will be carried out today, The West Australian understands.

13.6.11
More than 70 protesters are still blocking the main access road to the site of Woodside’s proposed LNG precinct at James Price Point, 60km north of Broome.

A convoy of Woodside contractors has returned to Broome and no work will be carried out today, The West Australian understands.

A new blockade was set up on the corner of the Manari Road, closer to the Broome town site, preventing contractors’ access since 5am today.

The protesters have blocked the road, which leads to Broome’s iconic Willie Creek Pearl Farm, but are allowing vehicles not associated with land clearing at James Price Point through the blockade.

Several local indigenous women have been leading the blockade and are refusing to allow vehicles down the road.

Janet and Rowena Puertollano said Woodside and the WA Government should be consulting the entire Broome and Kimberley community about the gas precinct, and not just the Goolarabooloo/Jabbir Jabbir traditional owners of the area.

Both women say they are descendants of Jabbir Jabbir people, but were not allowed to vote in the recent ballot which approved the development in exchange for $1.5 billion in benefits over the life of the project.

Janet Puertollano said that if her family had been included in the group it would have changed the outcome.

Last week former Kimberley Land Council executive director Wayne Bergmann condemned the protesters for their “hooligan tactics” during the week.

The Kimberley Land Council and Woodside have been contacted for comment.

Shell compound occupied for 9 hours – third action in two days

10th June 2011

10th June 2011
Wednesday and Thursday saw a serious of occupations and actions against the drilling compound at Aghoos in Mayo as part of the ongoing campaign against Shell. The events culminated in an eight-hour lock-on and a nine hour occupation of machinery which stopped all work for the day. Over thirty people were involved in the events. UK and other international campaigners joined Irish activist as part of the days of action.

Shell compound occupied for 9 hours – third action in two days

Yesterday, thirty activists, including an international presence, took the Shell compound at Aughoose where they are doing preparation work for the controversial pipeline that will run high pressure gas through communities in North Western Ireland. Three individuals managed to make it onto machinery while others closed the main gain with a lock-on. The result was no work done for the entire day. Five people were arrested, all of whom are now released though some have been charged.

The action was done from the Rossport Solidarity Camp which currently occupies a field on the other side of the road from where Shell are working. Planning started the night before, people wanting to build on the regular actions that have been taking place over the last few months since the camp has been in place.

On Wednesday, there had been another, shorter occupation of the site during the day. However, in the wonderful way these things happen, a second visit to the site to do reconnaissance for Thursday’s protest turned into an action in its own right…

So, Thursday, 7.30am – a large group of people move across the field to the road and begin breaching the compound at numerous places. They found a large, frankly scary looking lock-on dropped off in front of the main gates, despite the presence of fifteen security guards from IRMS trying to secure the access. Two people, “Bread” & “Jam” promptly made use of this gift to attach themselves to it.

People swarmed everywhere, making good use of their access as security locked themselves down in their central compound behind lines of harris fencing, though that was no obstacle. Indeed, the only work that Shell did today was building a sorry pile of mangled fences.

Numerous people made it through the lines of guards to occupy various machinery and structures, including the roof of the portakabins. Three clambered onto the drilling and digging machinery that the days’ work would have depended on. Of these, one was lied to about not being arrested on coming down so other two, who were on the sampling drill and the large digger, remained there for the next nine hours. By that time victory was clearly in the hand of the protesters and they came down of their own accord.

In all this exuberance, all bar one of the windows of the house Shell own down the road decided to shatter in solidarity.

Meanwhile, back at the main road, the campers provided support to those locked-on. Police blocked off the road. The cutting team turned up at 10.15am and after a lot of head-scratching started cutting at 11am. The god of lock-on’s had provided them a fair headache and it took another four hours before they managed to extract Jam. By the time that Bread was cut-out the lock-on had been in place for eight hours.

All five people arrested were taken to Belmullet Gardai station. The two who were locked on were charged with not following police instructions and for obstruction. The other three who were on the machinery were let go without charge for that, though one was subsequently re-arrested for a previous action. Support will continue.

In all, a fantastic day out, especially with the rain holding off until the action was over.

For more information on the Rossport Solidarity Camp and the campaign against Shell see
www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org