Action Reports – Page 229

Squat news – London, Cambridge

12.06.2008

Bowl Court Social Centre Days Are Numbered – London

12.06.2008

Bowl Court Social Centre Days Are Numbered – London

The courting hearing today ruled in favor of the property developers claiming ownership of the derelict warehouse in Bowl Court that has been used as a radical social centre since opening 23rd March. The David vs Goliath case was clearly motivated by Hammersons desire to prevent the new social centre becoming a hub for the local campaigns against their proposed development for the area, the biggest development in London since Docklands in the eighties.

The victorian social centre is located in the Shoreditch Street Conservation area and previous attempts to obtain planning consent for demolition have been refused. The neighboring warehouse was knocked down without planning permission by Gamma City Developments which was purchased by Hammerson, along with vast tracts of lands earmarked to become a forest of glass skyscrapers over the next ten years. Number 6 Bowl Court was left empty for years with a gaping hole cut in the roof and deep excavations dug around it’s external walls, apparently with the aim of speeding up it’s decay to justify future applications for demolition.

Although at least two other squatters occupy nearby properties which Hammerson claim to own, the attempts to evict Bowl Court came about only as it became apparent that the social centre was becoming involved in the local campaigns against the redevelopment plans for the area. The company had been informed of the occupation on the 24th March but only made moves to repossess the property three weeks ago.

In court, the defendants questioned the evidence presented by the claimants regarding ownership. Their land registry title was contradicted by titles known to be held by other companies. There was also issue over whether the notice of the proceedings had been correctly served as residential property requires five days clear notice but only three had been given. With no professional representation, the defendants were unable to put together a robust defense and also found themselves threatened with over £21,000 in costs. However, the judge also considered the costs to be outrageously inflated an choose to award just £2,500 in costs.

The future of the social centre is now obviously in doubt but in the meantime events continue as normal. See http://www.bowlcourt.co.nr for details.

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Mill Road Social Centre May Stay For Flippin’ Ages – Cambridge

A possession order was granted to Tesco today in court, yet representatives of the Mill Road Social Centre had apparent confirmation of indefinite leave to remain from Tesco’s solicitors.

About 20 social centre groupies went to court today dressed in all our wet finery and had a friendly bit of banter with the Tesco legal representative and the judge. The judge decided that, although we pointed out in our defense that their claim wasn’t accurate and so should be thrown out, she was happy to quickly amend it in court. This meant that we no longer had a defense as that was the only way our legal assistance had found for rejecting the claim. So, the judge awarded Tesco the possession order, as we thought they might.

We raised the issue of Tesco stating that they didn’t want to apply the possession order immediately, they just wanted hold of it. The solicitor again confirmed that this was the case.

SO, net result, as far as we know, we can remain in there doing fun things until Tesco want to get the builders in, hopefully sometime never. Obviously it’d be useful to keep open some kind of dialogue with Tesco about when they’re going to move in and we’ll look into that, however the early hope is that we actually have the space for a number of weeks and can get cracking in earnest to make it even more lovely and useful.

The solicitor said in court that “Tesco has no use today for the premises.” to which the judge replied “So they are in no position to commence redevelopment at this moment?”, and the solicitor answered “No.”. So if that’s right, and if they do want to wait on the planning process before trying to evict us, it could be a long long time. Hurrah! 🙂 It also means they were fibbing when they said they could open a store “tomorrow” in the evening news. Cheeky blighters.

millroadsocialcentre@lists.riseup.net
http://millroadsocialcentre.wordpress.com

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social centre attacked (again)

15.06.2008
At about half 1 this morning the mill rd social centre was attacked for the second time in a week. Thugs armed with an iron bar smashed windows and damaged vehicles in attempt to intimidate the occupants, then drove off. No Pasaran.
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New autonomous and creative social space in South London

The Chapel project is an autonomous and creative social space situated in the heart of Nunhead. The space is used for all kinds of creative and socially minded workshops and events. Our main aim is to provide affordable cultural activities to people, promoting creative interaction and therefore social change.

Come and get involved. Whatever ideas, materials or positive energies you can share would be great whether its running a workshop, showing your art work, or just spreading the word. We hope to see you soon.

http://www.chapelproject.com

Women and Trans DIY-SQUATTING Weekend in London, 28th-29th June

This is a callout to all women and trans-folk that would like to be involved in a weekend of workshops around diy-squatting

We plan to take advantage of all the usual challenges that semi-derelict buildings pose as a platform for sharing our knowledge, skills, and experience in all the tasks related to opening and maintaining a healthy and happy squat!

This is a callout to all women and trans-folk that would like to be involved in a weekend of workshops around diy-squatting

These are all the areas that we’ve thought of so far, but more ideas are always welcome:

* Electricity
* Plumbing
* Gas
* Security- doors/locks etc
* Barricading
* Legal
* Dealing w/ cops/owners- talk about experience/share tactics
* Women/Trans squatting- open discussion on experience of squatting from a women/trans-perspective.
* Sustainable energy

All levels of experience in any of the above areas are welcome, and even if you have no experience in any of the practical, diy-related areas, we hope to have a platform to share
experiences, stories and advice related to all aspects of squat-living from a trans/woman’s perspective.

Please get in touch if you’d like to help out at all in organising this weekend – We’ll need help finding a suitable space and preparing it for the weekend, publicising the gathering, and then running workshops on the weekend itself, as well as collecting and preparing food.
We also hope to provide childcare (on a rota-basis), so please let us know if you can help with that.

This gathering will be held on the weekend of the 28th – 29th June.

You can e-mail us at diy_squatting@riseup.net

Please spread the word!

**Let us know if you would like to be sent leaflets**

Action update Australia

In May, a personal letter was hand delivered to the $10 million mansion of Mike Smith, the CEO of the ANZ bank in Melbourne’s most affluent suburb of Toorak.

In May, a personal letter was hand delivered to the $10 million mansion of Mike Smith, the CEO of the ANZ bank in Melbourne’s most affluent suburb of Toorak. The letter, signed by the E.L.F., declared that his property, including his and his wife’s luxury cars, amongst a detailed list of other personal items, would not remain safe so long as ANZ continued its financing of the proposed Gunns Tamar Valley Pulp Mill in Tasmania.

The proposed pulp mill, run by Gunns- Tasmania’s forestry corporation which holds a virtual monopoly over the state, would contribute greatly to global warming, it would spew 64,000 tonnes of effluent into the Bass Straight every day, bring the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, the spotted tail Quoll, and the giant freshwater crayfish to extinction, and would turn the ancient old growth forests of the Great Western Tiers, the North East Highlands, and the Ben Lomond forests into pulp.

The same night, vegan pizzas from numerous multi-national chains were delivered unsuspectedly to the doorstep of Mike’s family home.

By strange coincidence, the following week ANZ withdrew its support for financing the $2 billion Gunns Tamar Valley Pulp Mill project.

This effectively puts the pulp mill’s future in a dire situation. Unfortunately the state and federal governments of Australia still continue their backing of the eco-cidal project.

9th June Noise Demo at UK Coal Head Office Protest – next one 14th July

UK Coal is about to devastate a beautiful part of the Derbyshire countryside by starting an open cast mine. So ‘Leave it in the Ground’ and Earth First! decided to make some noise over it with people from Derby, Nottingham Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and Brighton as well as other places, all travelled to UK Coals Head office in Doncaster to make some noise.

On arrival the police were there as expected, but did little to engage us and a little later in the day a 2 police officer’s with a camera and a video did appear in a daft attempt to intimidate us. UK Coal had there own security at the gate who just stood there more bored than the police.

The day was hot and very sunny at the bleak entrance of UK coals Head Office, a soul less place with nothing that said they were very proud of their company, no ornate plants, flowers or trees, just a big maintained hedge for their privacy. It is no wonder they are happy to destroy beautiful countryside for the dirty coal.

Every one was in high spirits and chilled as we all made noise for the afternoon in the sun. The plod just looked bored and there faces were getting redder by the hour under the fluro’ jackets and helmets.

We were fine of course, as we occupied the UK Coals sign for the only bit of shade while the plod kept roasting; we also sat around eating cake, pasties and sausage roles all from Veggies in a take out form, while still making a din.

At times the noise sounded good and they deliberately had to try and play badly just so it was annoying, after all it was no picnic. Banners were also hung and a police officer told us we could tie them to a lamp post, not that we needed his permission. Drivers coming in or out were also leafleted and many motorists passing the entrance beeped in support (probably ex miners who hate open casting with a passion)

It’s not just the local open cast, people are opposing of course but also the UK policy on coal that is now outdated as climate change looms in front of our eyes. Burning coal is threatening the global environment and all our futures and UK coal are cashing in on climate devastation and destruction. The Lodge House site in Derbyshire is just one of 7 sites and Lodge house will have 1 million tonnes of coal ripped out of a 122 hectare area in 5 years

Local media had turned out and radio interviews were done over the phone and there is more stuff to follow check http://leaveitintheground.org.uk and http://leaveitintheground.wordpress.com for the latest information

derby@earthfirst.org.uk

Next event: noise demo outside UK Coal on Monday 14th July 2008 – meet 3:30 at Doncaster train station, or 4pm at UK Coal

Reclaim Hulme Park – every Friday – Manchester

Local residents reclaimed Hulme Park in Manchester on Friday for an hour by closing down the road that runs through it.

Local residents reclaimed Hulme Park in Manchester on Friday for an hour by closing down the road that runs through it. Leaflets had been distributed and posters stuck around inviting people to reclaim the park – “one love, one park!!” People played games, ate and drank, and generally sat around in the street chatting to old friends and new. The police turned up in fair numbers on time, but sensibly – shock horror – just left enough of them and PCSOs to help direct traffic away, and left us to it.

When the Crescents got knocked down in the 90s, to sanitise the community action and creativity that was rife throughout Hulme, these high-density crescents of flats were replaced with a new park, and the land around sold to developers for swanky houses and flats on new exclusive streets with (s)wanky names like The Sanctuary.

The problem with old Hulme, as described by the council regeneration stooges, was that people and cars didn’t have to mix and were largely kept separate. New Hulme – a mix of old council housing (just sold off), housing association, a big housing co-op, private rented & private sold – would be safe for the city centre to expand into the space left as communities were broken up and shipped out to overspill estates around Manchester.

So what this park needed, right, was a road right through the middle of it (as well as on all sides), to keep the children safe because “the headlights of cars would act as cat’s eyes and prevent danger”.

Well, we’ve had enough.

Every Friday, 5-6pm, until we…Reclaim Hulme Park!

and

Close down the part of Royce Road that separates the two halves of Hulme Park.

Bring frisbees, balls, bikes.

Demonstrators tear down privatisation fencing bars (Thessaloniki, Greece, 7/6/2008)

What happened is a demonstration of hundreds of residents of Kalamaria (a large suburb of Thessaloniki by the sea) and Thessaloniki on the seafront of Kalamaria.

What happened is a demonstration of hundreds of residents of Kalamaria (a large suburb of Thessaloniki by the sea) and Thessaloniki on the seafront of Kalamaria. There, privatization works fence the one open area after the other, so, after a decision of a residents assembly, the demonstrators tore down the fencing bars of the local marina that prevent free access to the seaside. This action was welcomed with applause from local people.

Texts in greek and a lot of photos can be found here:
http://indy.gr/ or here http://athens.indymedia.org/ or there: http://diexodos.blogspot.com/.

$3.5 million luxury home torched in South Carolina

6.06.2008
Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. – 16 partially or recently constructed luxury homes have been intentionally burned down in southeast Charlotte, western Union County, and Lancaster County, South Carolina since 2001. Authorities have yet to find who is responsible for the fires, but now believe that radical environmentalists may be behind the arsons. The most recent development to go up in smoke was a $3.5 million mansion destroyed Monday evening, see pictures below.

The fire at 8407 Winged Bourne Drive, south Charlotte, started about 7:30 p.m. in a second floor hallway and spread quickly, shooting flames hundreds of feet into the air. The three-story mansion off Gleneagles Road near Quail Hollow Club had plywood floors and studded walls and was about 60% complete. By Tuesday investigators had ruled out all possible accidental causes.

“The only difference is this burned during daylight,” said Charlotte’s Chief Fire Investigator David Lowery said, declining to elaborate.

GroenFront! blocks E.ON Benelux HQ

June 3rd, GroenFront! occupied the Benelux headquarters of E.ON in Rotterdam. The office was closed shut down from 6 AM – 1 PM, when police specialists finally managed to remove some technologically advanced lock-ons. GroenFront! is demanding an immediate halt to the construction of an E.ON coal power plant on the Maasvlakte, part of the port of Rotterdam. The action is part of GroenFront!’s “shrink or drown” campaign, which aims at bringing down the size of the Dutch economy to more manageable proportions. Seven protestors were arrested for refusing police orders or refusing to show an ID. They were released around midnight.

The E.ON plant is said to be CO2 capture-ready, but in a leaked email conversation between E.ON managers at the British Dept. of Industry, it appears E.ON itself has no faith in this technology at all and is not expecting it to work. GroenFront! and clown army activists had earlier tried to put a literal ‘cork’ on an existing E.ON plant in Holland to illustrate this point.

July 19th a bicycle protest and picnic are being organised by locals from the area and GroenFront!-ers.

Another coal power plant is being planned only 1 km from E.ON’s construction site, by the Belgian company Electrabel, and there are also plans by NUON and RWE for new coal power plants that GroenFront! says it will oppose by direct action.

GroenFront! was started in 1996 as the Dutch and Belgian branch of EarthFirst.

More info: http://www.groenfront.nl

Video of the action

Cancellation of London Dongria Kondh tribe picket following targets disinvestment from Vendanta

The Survival demonstration outside Coutts Bank previously advertised on this website planned for the 10th June has been cancelled. In reaction to the planned picket Coutts has just informed Survival that they no longer hold shares in Vedanta, the British-based company whose planned bauxite mine will devastate the lands of India’s Dongria Kondh tribe.

Survival is continuing to lobby other Vedanta shareholders, as well as the company itself.

For more information, please go to http://www.survival-international.org/tribes/dongria

Report follows of picket last week.

Survival protest – ‘Finsbury profits from tribe’s destruction’
28 May 2008

Survival International this morning held a demonstration outside the London PR company FINSBURY, a subsidiary of global advertising company WPP. The protest highlighted Finsbury’s involvement with British mining giant Vedanta, which is set to destroy one of India’s most isolated tribes – the Dongria Kondh.

Carrying placards that said ‘Finsbury profits from tribe’s destruction’, demonstrators handed leaflets to Finsbury employees as they arrived for work, urging them to persuade Finsbury to resign their account with Vedanta.

Vedanta’s subsidiary, Sterlite, plans to mine aluminium ore from the Niyamgiri mountains in Orissa, India, where all of the 8,000 Dongria Kondh live.

The Dongria Kondh vehemently oppose the mine. Jitu Jakesika, a Dongria spokesperson, said, ‘We will become beggars if the company destroys our mountain and our forest so that they can make money. We will give our lives for our mountain.’

The Dongria Kondh have lived on the slopes of Niyamgiri since time immemorial, and are totally dependent on its forests. They view the mountain as sacred, grow crops on the slopes, and gather wild fruit in the dense forests.

Whaling protester scales embassy – court update

4 June 2008 update (main story below):
Conditional discharge of four months and ordered to pay £100 costs after being convicted of trespass.

Wyness told the court staff at the embassy had given him permission to protest outside the building.

4 June 2008 update (main story below):
Conditional discharge of four months and ordered to pay £100 costs after being convicted of trespass.

Wyness told the court staff at the embassy had given him permission to protest outside the building.

He said they had given him the invitation when he had tied himself to banisters inside the building on a previous occasion on 25 January.

The court was also shown footage which had been secretly filmed which showed a member of embassy staff suggesting it would be better to protest outside the building.

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6 March 2008
A campaigner protesting against whaling by the Japanese has been arrested after chaining himself to the front of the country’s embassy in London.

Martin Wyness, 50, of Hereford, climbed the building at about 0730 GMT and lowered the Japanese flag to half-mast about 40ft (12m) from the ground.

He then unfurled a banner saying “Japan stop your illegal whaling” before chaining himself to the building.

Police said Mr Wyness came down from the building at 1047 GMT.

He was arrested on suspicion of criminal trespass.

His protest was believed to be timed to coincide with a meeting of the International Whaling Commission which began on Thursday.

The three-day summit, which is being held in Heathrow, will discuss the future of whaling in Japan, Norway and Iceland.

In January, Mr Wyness and his 14-year-old daughter Sophie were arrested after tying themselves to a staircase with cable ties inside the embassy, in Piccadilly.

The charges against them were later dropped.

Video of action