Action Reports – Page 200

Attacks against cars & luxury developments in Germany

Unknown persons set on fire two luxury cars
Berlin, December 19th 2008

In the night to Friday two upperclass cars were put on fire in Berlin. About 1.20 a.m. two people walking by Eldenaer Strasse saw fire coming out of the engine compartment of a mercedes. It was severely damaged by the flames.

About 20 minutes later an inhabitant of Hornstrasse reaslized a Chrysler burning. A Golf standing next to was also damaged by the heat. In both cases the Berlin Fire Brigades extinguished the flames.

The political police Staatsschutz took over investigations, as a political motive for the arsons can not be excluded. This year already more than 60 cars had been burned in the capital, presumably for political reasons.

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Luxury Condo-project attacked

Berlin, December 19th 2008

In the night to Friday a luxury condominium project was attacks with stones and colour bags in Kreuzberg. Some windows were smashed, the attackers got away unrecognized.

About 20 person dressed in dark clothes attacked a luxury condo building under construction in Kreuzberg withn stones and colour bags in the night to Friday. According to the police 12 windows were broken in the building in Liegnitzer Strasse. Then the unknown persons ran away to Görlitzer Park. The political police took over investigations.

In the Paul-Linke-Yards socalled Carlofts are being build, said the owner. This means that the flats have their parking lot right in front of their door. The cars will be brought to the respective floor by a lift. The condos in the scene district will cost up to 1.6 million Euro. A demonstration against increasing rents was banned from walking past the object by the police.

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A car and a Digger set on fire
Berlin 16 Dezember 2008

Unknown persons have undertaken two arson attacks in the early morning of Tuesday in the district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. A taxi driver noticed a car, a luxurious mercedes, burning in the Wienerstrasse and called the cops.

Meanwhile a Digger got torched in the Kreutzigerstrasse in Friedrichshain.

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“Land Rover” set on fire
Berlin 14 December 2008

Unknown individuals put a „Land Rover“ on fire today early in the morning in the district of Mitte. A taxi driver noticed the car burning on the corner Choriner strassae/Fehrberliner strasse and called the cops. The State security investigates.

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„Hummer“ burned down

Berlin 8 of December

A car got burned early in the morning in Friedrichshain. Around 0.45 a police patrol noticed the burning“Hummer“ in the Frankfurter Allee.

Since a political motivation can not be excluded, state security investigates.

More burning of luxury cars throughout this autumn in Germany, at http://directactionde.blogspot.com/search/label/English, plus anti-militarist, anti-fascist and Greek solidarity actions

Sea Shepherd Clashes With Whaling Fleet in Australian Waters

December 26th, 2008
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin closed in on one of the vessels of the Japanese whaling fleet at 0730 Hours GMT (1930 Hours Sydney Time) on December 26th off the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory north of the Mawson Peninsula.

The Kaiko Maru emerged from dense fog in front of the Steve Irwin. The Sea Shepherd crew pursued and delivered 10 bottles of rotten butter and 15 bottles of a methyl cellulose and indelible dye mixture.

“That is one stinky slippery ship,” said Sea Shepherd 2nd Officer Peter Hammarstedt of Sweden.

The Japanese ship was ordered out of the territorial waters of Australia by Australian citizen Jeff Hansen from Perth, Western Australia. The message was delivered in Japanese.

As the Steve Irwin came alongside the starboard side of the Kaiko Maru, the whaler steered hard to starboard and struck the Steve Irwin lightly crushing part of the aft port helicopter deck guard rails on the Sea Shepherd ship. There was no serious damage to either ship.

The Sea Shepherd crew’s objective was to intimidate the Japanese fleet and to keep them moving Eastward out of Australian Territorial waters. The Sea Shepherd crew have been pursuing the fleet eastward for a week. There is only 90 miles left before the fleet enters the New Zealand Zone.

“Our objective now is to chase them out of Australia’s Economic Exclusion Zone,” said Captain Paul Watson. “I have a chart here and it clearly states that these waters are Australian EEZ. There is an Australian Federal Court Order specifically prohibiting these ships from whaling in these waters. We have informed the whalers they are in contempt of this Court ruling.”

There is no doubt that Japanese whaling in Australian waters has been severely disrupted. Since Saturday, the Sea Shepherd crew have chased the Japanese fleet for 400 miles through heavy fog, dense ice and nasty weather. During that time they have not been able to kill any whales.

“We still have them on the run and we intend to keep them on the run for as long as our fuel resources allow,” said Captain Watson.

Fight Speciesism! #7 – Out Now

January issue of the latest anti-speciesist, anti-capitalist, abolitionist direct action news is out now. Antispeciesist Action is a collective of militant antispeciesists and animal rights activists committed to confronting animal abuse, suffering and exploitation of non-human beings through the use of direct action.

We believe in the ‘No Compromise’ philosophy, veganism and actively support the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and animal rights prisoners.

We are opposed to capitalism and the state, understanding that without both entities, the universal exploitation of animals would not be possible.

Until Every Cage Is Empty!

Articles:

– In Memory of Barry Horne
– NYSE:LSR Under Attack
– Hunt Sabbing News
– Mink Released
– Insurrection in Mexico
– Letter from Sean Kirtley
– Whalers On The Run
– Global Roundup
– Telmex Campaign
– Uprising in Greece

FS! #7 – http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/416034.html

Civilian Uprising against Barrick Gold in Tanzania

Mine security shoots young man, villagers respond by destroying $7 million in equipment

December 24th, 2008

Mine security shoots young man, villagers respond by destroying $7 million in equipment

December 24th, 2008

Last week, reports surfaced in the mainstream press that thousands of villagers had raided a gold mine in Northern Tanzania, setting fire to $7 million* worth of mine equipment. Most reports blamed problems with crime in the area, calling the intruders "gold-seekers."

While the spokesman for Barrick Gold** Tanzania, Teweli Teweli, describes these villagers as "well-organized groups" who attacked the pit following the blasting of high-grade ore, others paint Barrick as the aggressor in this event, citing immediate and historic causes that have been largely ignored by the international community.

According to several witnesses, the immediate cause of the civilian uprising was the killing of a young man named Mang’weina Mwita Mang’weina. Human rights lawyer Tundu Lissu, who represents many of the villagers, explains that Mang’weina and some friends were engaged in an argument with Barrick security when one of the guards shot Mang’weina, who was unarmed at the time. This incident caused an uproar within the community, which immediately took up stones, overpowered mine security (who then fled), and attacked the mine, setting fire to millions worth of equipment.

Mang’weina himself is a part of the legacy of the North Mara mine. He was one of the thousands of unemployed locals in the area, angry over the mine’s recent history of forced displacement, loss of livelihoods, human rights abuses and ongoing repression. He is the seventh person killed at the hands of mine security since July 2005, when the killing of a local boy sparked a similar uprising that resulted in the destruction of mine equipment and the subsequent detention of over 200 villagers.***

Eyewitnesses to the 2005 killing told The Guardian (Tanzania) that "the boy who was shot dead was walking past the company premises when company security guards, suspecting him of stealing oil, stopped him. When the boy failed to heed the order, the guards called the police who, before even questioning him, shot him in the chest."

Not one year later, security guards employed by Barrick Gold allegedly shot – five times in the back – another villager who was alleged to have illegally entered the mine complex, bringing the death toll to six.

According to Lissu in a letter written in June 2006:

The killings represent a major shift in Barrick’s strategy for dealing
with the troublesome locals who have always opposed the Mine. In the
period after the forced evictions of the villagers in August 2001,
hundreds of villagers, particularly community leaders and prominent
locals were targeted for illegal arrests, criminal prosecutions and
long term imprisonment. Numerous local leaders including the area’s
[late] Member of Parliament Chacha Zakayo Wangwe and elected Member of
the Tarime District Council Augustino Nestory Sasi were harassed this
way, with the latter being sentenced to 30 year jail before we got him
out on appeal to the High Court of Tanzania in December 2004.

Calculating from media reports, Lissu estimates that over 10,000 artisanal miners, peasant farmers and their families were kicked out of the area to make way for the North Mara mine in 2001. Since that time, there has been ongoing tension between the mine and the local communities.

According to Allan Cedillo Lissner, a Toronto-based photojournalist who recently interviewed families surrounding the North Mara mine, "Ongoing conflict between the mine and local communities have created a climate of fear for those who live nearby." Since the mine opened in 2002, one family told Lissner that they live in a state of constant anxiety because they are repeatedly harassed and intimidated by the mine’s private security forces and by government police. "There have been several deadly confrontations in the area and every time there are problems at the mine, the Mwita family say their compound is the first place the police come looking. During police operations the family scatters in fear to hide in the bush, ‘like fugitives,’ for weeks at a time waiting for the situation to calm down," Lissner explains.

The Mwita family explained that they used to farm and raise livestock, telling Lissner that "now there are no pastures because the mine has almost taken the whole land … we have no sources of income and we are living only through God’s wishes. … We had never experienced poverty before the mine came here." They also told Lissner that they would like to be relocated, but the application process has been complicated, and they feel the amount of compensation offered was merely "candy."

According to Tanzanian journalist and community advocate Evans Rubara, this latest uprising "is a sign to both the government of Tanzania and the International community (especially Canada) that poor and marginalized people also get tired of oppression." He hopes that the recent conflict will inspire Barrick "to start another strategy that will bring a good and constructive relationship with the local communities by implementing programs that do not enhance more looting and belittle Tanzania, leaving thousands in destitution."

Since this most recent uprising, dozens of villagers have been arrested. According to Lissu, who plans to represent those arrested, "They have arrested dozens of people; [Barrick is] on a war path; these people have been denied bail, they are targeting the youth and repression is on."

Lissu also spoke about reports of weapons making their way into the North Mara area. "Two days ago, we got information that [Barrick is] importing weapons: a ton and a half of tear gas, and hand grenades were transported to the mine on Thursday. The hand grenades were seized by customs on the way to the North Mara Gold Mine, but have since been let through," he told ProtestBarrick.net on the phone from Tanzania.

Sakura Saunders is an editor for protestbarrick.net, an all-volunteer news site that networks organizations and community groups organized against Barrick Gold around the world.

* On December 17, 2008 Barrick Gold said it had revised down the damage to its North Mara Mine in Tanzania during an attack last week to about $7 million from an earlier estimate of $15 million.

** In January 2006, Barrick Gold merged with Placer Dome, who previously owned the North Mara mine.

*** By mid 2006 all of the villagers detained after the 2005 uprising had been released by the courts after the authorities failed to prosecute them.

Actions in India and the Philippines

I’m not sure whether the following reports are ‘ideologically acceptable’ but over the last year there has been a rash of direct action attacks against corporations and in defence of the environment and the indigenous peoples that live there, undertaken by Maoist forces in both India and the Philippines.

India

1. Naxals attack in Gadchiroli [December 2007]

CHANDRAPUR: Naxalites set ablaze three vehicles – two tippers and a truck – of a contractor on Wednesday evening. The incident took place near Haldwahi Tola village in Chamorshi tehsil of Gadchiroli district, said the police.

According to sources, the Naxals came to the village and after identifying the vehicles of the construction company – Sainath Constructions – set those ablaze. The Naxalites then disappeared into the jungle.

Sanjay Latkar, SDPO of Chamorshi division, said, “The Naxals have burnt the three vehicles owned by Raju Biyani, director of Sainath Constructions on Wednesday evening.”

(http://maoistresistance.blogspot.com/2007/12/naxals-attack-in-gadchiroli.html)

2. Maoists attack Essar Steel plant in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, Apr 25 [2008]: About 300 heavily armed Maoists on Friday attacked an iron ore beneficiation plant of Essar Steel in Chhattisgarh, and set 53 trucks and three heavy machines on fire, a senior police officer said.
The attack was carried out near Kirandul in the state’s Dantewada District where the insurgents have been running a de-facto administration for years.
“Armed rebels attacked Essar Steel’s iron ore facility and created havoc for hours, by setting at least 53 trucks and three heavy machines on fire, in a raid that ended in the early hours of Friday,” R. K. Vij, Inspector General of Police of Bastar range, told media.
The plant supplies high quality iron ore from its 8 million tonne per annum (MTPA) unit to the pellet plant at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.
According to police, rebels overpowered a few employees working in the plant during night shift and then sprayed diesel on vehicles and set them on fire.
The rebels later slipped into the nearby forest. The rebels left pamphlets at the attack site saying their act was to protest transportation of local rare natural resource iron ore to outside the state and the country.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is on a four-day visit to tribal pockets in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

(http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/maoists-attack-essar-steel-plant-in-chhattisgarh-2_10042081.html)

3. In September 2008 a photo essay about the anti-Maoist militia the Salwa Judum appeared on the Internet. Part of the essay read as follows:

The conflict sits on top of one of the most valuable iron mines in Asia [in Bacheli, Chhattisgarh]….. Some people allege that Salwa Judum only exists to free up land for mining contracts, and is not really a fight against communism.

[A] massive steam shovel was attacked by Naxals a month before I arrived. Naxals target mining infrastructure because they say local people don’t reap any benefit from the multi-billion dollar industry. (Unfortunately the damage was temporary and the machine has been repaired)

Christopher Kindo is the Deputy Director of Mining in Chhattisgarh. he says that he doesn’t understand why Naxals keep attacking his equipment. (Aaahhh …. the innocence dripping from his face could melt anyone’s heart)

The mining machinery in Chhattisgarh comes from an American company and sells for half a million dollars per truck. [A] massive load puller can hold several tons of top grade iron which eventually ends up in building projects across India and Japan. The mines are a central target of Naxal militants.

(http://naxalrevolution.blogspot.com/2008/09/salwa-judum-photo-essay.html)

4. Naxalites set eight vehicles on fire

Sunday November 30 2008

Raipur (PTI): Eight vehicles were set on fire in two separate incidents by suspected Naxalites in Dantewada and Bijapur district, police said today.

Naxalites stopped the road construction work between Kamalur and Kundeli in Dantewada district and set three tippers, two dozers, a pokelene machine and a trailer on fire late last night, police said.

In another incident, about three dozen Naxalites led by Ursa Bodhra, a hardcore Naxalite, set a vehicle on fire for allegedly carrying supplies meant for security forces at Gangalur region of Bijapur last night….

http://naxalwatch.blogspot.com/2008/11/naxalites-set-eight-vehicles-on-fire.html
Philippines

5. communique published by the New Peoples Army, republished on the website of the Negros Chronicle

….September 15, 2008
The NPA Mt. Talinis Front Command based in southeast Negros island implemented last September 9 a directive from the Provisional Revolutionary Government to punish the Tamlang Valley Agricultural Development Corporation (TVADC) for promoting and planting jathropa and cassava in the said area.
According to Ka Dom Pantaleon, spokesperson of the NPA Mt. Talinis Front Command, Red fighters seized and immediately burned three tractors owned by the TVADC late Tuesday night in Sitio Cuadra, Barangay Mantikil, Siaton town in Oriental Negros.
The punitive action was implemented after it was proven that the year-old TVADC project has gravely dislocated the planting of the traditional corn, rice and other food crops in Tamlang Valley, he said.
Lands previously used by farmers for own-consumption food production were now forcibly used for bio-fuel purposes, and a succession of Army battalions were employed to actively harass and dupe farmers to plant jathropa and cassava, he added……

(http://www.negroschronicle.com/?p=379)

6. Red Army’s anti-biofuels campaign continues
October 28, 2008

The NPA will implement more preventive measure against private agri-business corporations like the Tamlang Valley Agricultural Development Corporation (TVADC) for worsening the food supply problem and causing numerous military abuses in southeast Negros.
Thus said Ka Dom Pantaleon, spokesperson of the NPA Pulang Mt. Talinis Front Command, as he announced yet another punitive action against the TVADC biofuels company mainly based in barangay Casalaan, Siaton, Oriental Negros.
In a press release, Pantaleon said the countryside-based people’s democratic government ordered an NPA team last October 3 to confiscate and burn two TVADC-owned tractors in sityo Tamlang, barangay Talalak, in Sta. Catalina town. No one was harmed in the incident, he added.
It was the second such operation in as many months by the Red army to protect upland peasants from the intrusive and harmful biofuels company co-owned by the family of ex-Congressman Herminio Teves and their Korean business partners….
Pantaleon revealed that the NPA will continue implementing similar orders for punitive actions from the countryside-based people’s democratic government that are meant to block the widespread growing of jathropa and cassava in and around the vast Sta. Catalina-Siaton-Valencia-Pamplona border barangays of Oriental Negros known as Tamlang Valley.
More importantly, it will impose armed punitive actions against the 302nd Brigade for providing protection and even colluding with TVADC in forcing ordinary farmers to plant jatrhopa and cassava, instead of their traditional food crops like upland rice and corn, he added.
The NPA spokesperson said the mercenary AFP has become the biofuels campaign’s most visible “errand boys” for the agri-business company and the Teves family in southeast Negros.
This has resulted to numerous human rights abuses, including the enforced disappearances of ordinary farmers Flaviano Arante and Reynold Yanoc – both residents of barangay Talalak, Sta. Catalina town – who have been missing and feared salvaged since early this year, he added…..

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/statements/statements.pl?author=npasn;date=081028;language=eng

7. December 23, 2008

[extract]…..The NPA also burned six (6) multi-million heavy equipments of SRMI as punishment for their considerable transgressions against the environment, indigenous Filipinos, workers and people affected by their mining operations.
SRMI is owned by the Amante political family and has wrought environmental destruction to the municipality of Tubay, paid low wages and unjustly treats its workers, disrespects the rights of the indigenous Filipinos to their ancestral lands and deprives them of their ”royalty share”. SMRI’s unquenchable greed is forcibly put over and above the interests of the indigenous Filipinos, small miners and the masses through the hiring of Ret. Col De Lara and establishing a big security force whose members include abusive criminals.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/cgi-bin/statements/statements.pl?author=ndfnm;date=081223;language=eng

ALF & ELF Continue Telmex Sabotage

“On December 11 the Frente de Liberacion Animal in Mexico sabotaged 25 telephones of the disgusting company Telmex in an act of direct support for our fighting comrades in Colombia, we are glad to know that the attacks that are badly needed in Latin America have this continuity, we hope that the flame will not go out in Colombia and that they continue on!

Continuous, well-planned sabotage is the worst nightmare of the exploiters.

A fighting embrace!

For animal, human and earth liberation!

FLA Mexico”

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“On December 18 we sabotaged 20 phones of the destroyer of the planet, the Telmex company, in the same manner as before (with bolt cutters and other tools).

We will not stop …

FLT México”

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Previous actions

ELF sabotage phone booths in Columbia & Mexico
http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21875

Telmex phone booths sabotaged in Mexico City
http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/node/21813

Source http://www.directaction.info

Invitation to the Northern Climate Rush – January 12th

On Monday 12th January 2009 at 7pm the Northern Climate Rush will hit Manchester Airport Terminal 3 (Domestic Departures).

Everyone is welcome to join us. Come in Edwardian dress if you can (think long skirts, coats and tails, and silly hats, all hidden under a big coat!) with hampers of food to have our ‘Dinner at Domestic Departures’, to the strains of our very own string quartet! It will take place on the day that the MPs return from their winter holiday, and at exactly the same time as the main Climate Rush, at Heathrow.

Our protest will be against airport expansion and domestic flights. In a time of recession and climate crisis, government money should be spent on improvements to rail, trams, and buses, not on subsidies and infrastructure for the aviation industry.

For an accessible report on the latest climate science, check out http://climatesafety.org/

We have waited too long and been misled too many times. It is time for us to take control and to lead social change.

northernclimaterush@googlemail.com

Radley Lakes saved

Following years of campaigning through legal channels, and the squatting of a building by the side of Thrupp Lake at the beginning of 2007, the Save Radley Lakes campaign is victorious – hoorah! Use the search above for old stories and photos from the campaign – stories about the recent victory and future plans are below.

Yesterday’s (17.12.08) announcement by RWE Npower brought to an end a 41 month campaign to save the last remaining Radley Lakes, Thrupp and Bullfield Lakes, from destruction by being filled with waste pulverised fuel ash (PFA) from the Didcot A Power Station.

It also brings to an end 23 years of filling of old gravel pits in Radley with power station ash, which began in 1985, when the Power Station was run by the nationalised Central Electricity Generating Board and when the environment figured less highly in popular concerns. The choice back then was between landfill with general waste, commercial exploitation, or ash. Local people voted for the ash, which is probably what they would have got anyway.

The ash had been pumped into the gravel pits as a slurry via an underground pipeline. Many gravel pits were filled in this way over the intervening years and people did not seem to mind, though eyebrows were being increasingly raised, and there were objections to the filling of Lakes H and I, which had become a spectacular haven for wildfowl. In 2005, RWE npower sought permission to fill the the two remaining gravel pits. These were the oldest excavations, which had, over the half century or so of their existence, become restored into beautiful lakes and had been given names by local people.

How the Lakes Were Saved (in a nutshell)

The smaller Bullfield Lake was rescued from this fate following protests back in 2005, but the much larger and more important Thrupp Lake has remained under threat ever since, as planning, legal and other battles raged around it. As a last resort, local people even applied to have the area turned into a Town Green. This too failed, but it remains the subject of a Judicial Review, which was due to be heard in the High Court in February 2009. In February 2007, having got all necessary planning permissions and removed the protestors who’d occupied the lakeside building, npower went ahead with clearance work on the site, and many trees were destroyed. Work then had to stop until the Autumn, because of nesting birds. After carrying out some preliminary work in October 2007, npower suddenly ceased their activities on the site.

Then, in February 2008, events took an unexpected turn: npower announced an interim reprieve for Thrupp Lake. A little later, Waste Recycling Group (WRG) openly came forward with a proposal that would save Thrupp Lake for ever. It has taken until now to bring this to fruition. Planning permission was needed, technical problems had to be resolved, a commercial agreement had to be reached; then there was the question of what to do with Thrupp Lake. Many delicate negotiations, it seemed, were going on in the background, culminating in yesterday’s momentous announcement.

Triumph at Last!

To mark the occasion, the Power Station operators invited press and public into the grounds of Sandles, the house on the shore Thrupp Lake. There, Mr John Rainford, the Power Station manager, announced that, because the power station had found better and more sustainable ways of disposing of its ash, there would be no need to destroy Thrupp Lake, not now, not ever. He made it clear that RWE npower was offering The Lake to the local community as a nature conservation area and that discussions were underway with the Northmoor Trust to provide for its management. It was hoped that the house could be converted into an educational centre.

Representatives of the community, Jenny Standen, chairman of Radley Parish Council, and Basil Crowley, chairman of Save Radley Lakes, expressed their satisfaction and delight, thanking npower for their magnanimity and looking forward to working with them in restoring the area to create something to be really proud of. Both expressed gratitude to all the people who had supported the campaign and whose support and tireless efforts had helped bring this about.

With the late December afternoon sunshine casting long shadows across the vestiges of Sandles’ lawn, a jubilant party atmosphere prevailed. Champagne flowed, hands were shaken, cameras clicked and, in a touch of surreality, a man in a frog suit played a solo trombone fanfare at the lakeside to herald the lake’s salvation.

Where the Ash Will Go

The ash that was to have gone into Thrupp Lake will now go to Waste Recycling Group’s Sutton Courtenay landfill site next to the power station where it will be used for engineering, capping and landscaping of the landfill operations. Surplus ash will be stockpiled in a planned new storage facility, which received planning permission back in July, and will maintain WRG’s essential supply of ash after 2015 when the power station will have closed. Because the power station and the waste site are immediately adjacent, the ash can be transported directly across the fence and put into the stockpile, which is not far from the power station boundary. At no time will this ash be transported on public roads, which means there will be no adverse impact on the residents of Sutton Courtenay. Indeed, it will remove the need to import over half a million tonnes of substitute materials after 2015, which would have had an impact!

http://www.saveradleylakes.org.uk/
http://www.radleyvillage.org.uk/news/News0009.htm

Japanese Whaling Fleet Is On the Run

Friday, December 19, 2008
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin now has the entire Japanese whaling fleet on the run.

At 2345 G.M.T. the Steve Irwin intercepted the Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru #2 inside the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone at 64°26 South and 132° 40′ East.

Friday, December 19, 2008
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society ship Steve Irwin now has the entire Japanese whaling fleet on the run.

At 2345 G.M.T. the Steve Irwin intercepted the Japanese harpoon vessel Yushin Maru #2 inside the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion Zone at 64°26 South and 132° 40′ East.

The encounter took place in dense fog and in dangerous ice conditions. The Steve Irwin launched a Delta boat with a crew to attack the Yushin Maru #2 with rotten butter bombs. Unfortunately the wind increased to fifty knots with blizzard conditions. Captain Paul Watson called the small boat crew back for safety reasons when they were halfway to their target some three miles away.

The Yushin Maru #2 then headed due North to lead the Steve Irwin away from the whaling fleet. The decoy did not work. The Steve Irwin is now in pursuit of the whaling fleet.

They have ceased whaling operations and they are now running from the Sea Shepherd crew.

The Yushin Maru #2 was the same vessel that the Steve Irwin crew boarded in January 2007. This year the crew observed that the Yushin Maru #2 has set up large netting to be run along the side of the ship to prevent boarding parties from going over the side. When the whalers realized that the Steve Irwin was onto them, they immediately ran on deck to deploy the netting.

“It looks like Whale Wars, season #2 is officially underway,” said Captain Paul Watson. “We’ve got them on the run. They are not in the Ross Sea where they said they would be. They are in Australian waters. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is officially calling on Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith to order the Japanese fleet to comply with the orders of the Australian Federal Court and to cease and desist from killing to whales in Australian waters.”

COAL CARAVAN – route & dates update

The fabulous climate caravan lives on.

This time we will be the COAL CARAVAN, walking and cycling between the sites for proposed open cast mines and new power stations in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North East.

The fabulous climate caravan lives on.

This time we will be the COAL CARAVAN, walking and cycling between the sites for proposed open cast mines and new power stations in the Midlands, Yorkshire and North East.

On our route we’ll be talking to local people, organising bicycled power films and events, holding public discussions and displays, and linking groups from different areas to help strengthen isolated campaigns.

24 April 2009 Co2al Caravan launch party, Sumac Centre Nottingham
25 April – set off to Shipley Glen
27/28 April – cycle to Yorkshire
29 April – Fairbairn Ings
30 April – 2 May – cycle to North East
3 May – Anti-opencast workshops
4 May (Bank Holiday Monday) – Grand Finale

The caravan itself will not involve direct action (although we may offer training, if local groups so request). It will be openly organised and if you would like to go on the list please email caravan@climatecamp.org.uk.