Action Reports – Page 24

Earth First! Summer Gathering 2014 – exact location & other practicalities added

Updates: Exact location has been releases – see here.

Travel – book your travel to Castle Cary or Bruton train station, then it's a bus journey and 20 minute walk.

Updates: Exact location has been releases – see here.

Travel – book your travel to Castle Cary or Bruton train station, then it's a bus journey and 20 minute walk.

Bus times are : 8.14am – 9.44am – 11.44am – 12.33pm – 2.14pm – 4.33pm (last bus). There's no Sunday service so we will timetable a shuttle bus to return.

Cycling: Bruton is better if you are cycling as it is a mile shorter, and there is also a bus from there too. The last bus from here leaves later. (Bus times from Bruton are: 9:09am – 10:39am – 12:12pm – 1:39pm – 3:54pm – 5:39pm)

We will post the exact address three weeks before the gathering.

Refreshments – ‘This year there is no bar on site. People are welcome to bring their own but we ask that there's no drinking before dinner/7pm. Anyone causing a nuisance or breaking our Safer Spaces policy will be asked to stop and/or leave. There will be a cafe & snack bar on site.’

Dogs – ‘This year dogs are welcome, but please get in touch in advance, and keep them on a lead at all times on the site.’ Further info

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28th-31st August 2014, in the South West….

A place for people involved in radical green direct action to come together….
to talk….share skills….learn….listen….play….rant…. find out whats going on….
scheme….live outdoors….hang out….laugh….
experience non hierarchical, low impact, family friendly living.

An activist camp that spans 5 days and consists of a programme of workshops throughout each day facilitated by people like you and me who think they have a skill or a level of knowledge in a subject that is valuable to share with others to improve their activism.

Is this camp for you? Whether you're just starting out in the world of direct action or you're an old (glued and paint-stained) hand at it, you're welcome here.

More info here

Action dates & gatherings now working again!

The action dates and protest gatherings page is once again working! Apologies, we accidentally deleted it!

If there's any ecological actions that are openly advertised, protest camps or campaign gatherings, that you want to add to it, do it through the submit report link and in the subject, make it clear it's to add to the calendar. Thanks.

The action dates and protest gatherings page is once again working! Apologies, we accidentally deleted it!

anarchists claim string of fires in east bristol

Just before sunrise this morning we launched a targeted arson spree along Glebe Road — which meets the main east Bristol thoroughfare of Church Road — and burned out corporate, luxury, private security and hunt-scum vehicles. Wildfire in the arteries of the city-prison! To break the lie of social peace and intensify the hostilities!

Emergency services were too slow to catch the responsible as the empty street was brightened from end to end as by torches. In a few words, the selected vans and cars were active components of the life they represent and also enforce.

Virgin Media supply television and also internet, and a national fibre optic cable network. To keep us enmeshed in the modern information economy and the spectacle of celebrities, video games and advertising is their business. Destroy what domesticates and stupefies us!

A car as fancy as a Quattro is an extra spit in the face for the property-less as well as the earth. In wealthy areas or parts undergoing gentrification they're commonplace, in England as in Argentina, Sydney as in Berlin, and there to be picked off at our leisure.

BWS's security vehicle in ashes is one less to aid their task across the UK of keeping the haves from the have-nots by threat or force and of expanding the matrix of surveillance cameras we pass under hundreds of times in a day. Minions of the established order have chosen their side! Insurrectional action against the constructs of authority above us, around us, within us.

Either an active fox hunter or a supporter and promoter of killing wild animals solely for entertainment — either way, owner of a heavy-duty 4×4 bearing pro-hunt stickers — got their incendiary gift too. Some call bloodsport uncivilised, but it's really perfectly reflective of the disdain for the nonhuman, upper class entitlement and also cross-class collaboration which is the basis and content of civilisation. Let's make the rich and their terrier-boys the hunted, let's harass them in city or countryside.

This deed coincided with the call for collective action in support of our caged brother G. Pombo da Silva (Spain), who's resisting his forced transfer to a maximum security module. Hopefully our flaming regards will also make it through the prison bars to the wandering she-wolves A. Trudeau and F. Rouiller along with compa C. 'Chivo' López (Mexico) — they all face charges over Molotov attacks against State and Capitalism. We're also thinking of the unnamed animal liberation fighter who prosecutors have tried to link to the anarchist paper UpprorsBladet (Sweden) and the co-convicted who also had the sense to stay silent before the cops. While A. Cospito and N. Gai, G. Iacovacci and A. Antonacci will all be tried next on July 4th, we take aim to light up their jail cells with the warmth of our solidarity. Prisoners to the streets, running wild and free!

ABOUT THE ACCUSED IN BRISTOL
We learned from the scum-press newspapers that early on June 12th an individual was stopped in their vehicle by police in the Bradley Stoke area and suspected of going equipped to commit a crime, then arrested on suspicion of four counts of arson. This was in the context of four coordinated sabotages in the days before which took down many phone signals and also radio services — all of which had already been claimed by Live Wires, FAI/ELF, as reported in the scum-press and carried by anarchist counter-information pages (although hidden once again by the moderators of Bristol Indymedia).

After the resounding silence so far from the local anarchist movement, the first thing we want to state is that — although none of ourselves, our wider network or fleeting affinities know who this person is or anything about their sympathies or complicities — the repressive move by the State aims to discourage similar actions and we will not stand complacent. Either police made an unconnected arrest in efforts to shed some of the criticism they've come under in the regional and national media for failing to stem the flow of anarchist attacks in their area, in which case it was a fruitless provocation as action continues, or that individual really did set out to somehow fight the system that night — singularly, in the context of decentralised informal groups open to anyone such as FAI or ELF, or anonymous — in which case they're a potential comrade and we would defend them as such.

It seems for now that police have little interest in the arrested individual as according to the scum-press they're out on bail after questioning, but we call on anyone with more information to release it if they see fit. Meanwhile, solidarity with the live wires and whoever shares their motivations to do the same!

Informal anarchist federation/Earth liberation front
Rogue fire brigade.

Summary of Repression from ZAD

30th June Summary of arrests and trials since the demo in Nantes, February 22nd, according to information found by the anti-repression committee (CARILA)

February 22nd: 14 arrests, two released without charge. Of the 12 people charged, 5 had immediate trials the next day, and the 7 others will have trials later (3 on June 19th, 2 minors in children’s court, and no news for the 2 others).

February 24th: 5 immediate trials, 4 of them judged for “violence against someone with public authority”, and “participating in an armed group”. They were all convicted.
100 hours of community service
5 months suspended sentence
5 months of prison
5 months of prison and 1 month probation
6 months of prison and 6 months of probation + 500 euros for the undercover cops supposedly injured

Of all those convicted this day, no one went directly to prison. This means that they can negotiate a lighter sentence.

March 31st: First wave of arrests after the demo: 9 people were arrested at home (in Carquefou, St. Herblain, Nantes, and Ille-et-Vilaine).

2 were released without charges
4 were judged the next day in immediate trials
2 minors: one accused of throwing fireworks at the police judged in juvenile court, placed under house arrest until their trial in 2015, the other we don’t think they were charged but we have no confirmation
1 person had a trial later but we don’t have contact with them

April 1st: Immediate trials for those arrested the day before

P: 4 months suspended sentence, forbidden to carry weapons for a year, forbidden to protest in Notre Dame des Landes and Nantes for a year
J: 5 months of prison, forbidden to carry weapons for 2 years, forbidden to protest in Nantes for 2 years
G: 2 months suspended sentence + 2 months prison (suspended sentence from last arrest), aquitted for vandalism
E: 1 year of prison, starting immediately after the trial, forbidden to protest for 3 years, forbidden to have explosives or flammable materials for 3 years. The judge doubled the sentence that the DA asked for!

May 14th: G arrested in Paris under a warrant for vandalism February 22nd. He refused an immediate trial, fuzzy photos were the only evidence. He was placed in preventative detention, but got out a month later because of a procedural error. His trial is July 16th.

May 27th: R. arrested in the street in Rennes by undercover cops, transferred to Nantes. He refused immediate trial, and was put under house arrest, and forbidden from the Loire-Atlantique region until his trial, June 19th.

June 13th: Additional trial for someone convicted February 24th to decide how much they should pay in damages to the undercover cops. No information on the verdict for the moment.

June 18th:
O. arrested at home in Rennes, accused of vandalism, he has an immediate trial the next day.
Someone from the ZAD arrested in Nantes, who had a warrant out for violence against the police and participating in an armed group.

June 19th:
Trial for 3 people arrested during the demo -K: convicted of throwing paving stones towards the police and arrested in possession of a hammer and an iron bar, 4 months suspended sentence, 18 months probation (forced to find a job or go to vocational school, and forbidden to carry weapons) + 105 hours of community service -C: convicted of participation in an armed group and throwing a beer can at the police, sentenced to 2 months suspended sentence -G: arrested in possession of a hammer, sentenced to 1 month suspended sentence
Hearing for O. (arrested in Rennes the day before): he refuses his trial and is put under house arrest until his trial, July 10th
Trial of R. (arrested in Rennes, May 27) for vandalism and participating in an armed group. Sentenced to 8 months suspended sentence + 1 month suspended sentence + 5218 euros in damages for the city of Nantes+ forbidden from Loire-Atlantique region for 2 years.
Hearing for 5 people arrested 2 days before by undercover cops while driving: -one person (a hitch-hiker) accepted the immediate trial, convicted to possession of 1 gram of hash + refusing fingerprints and DNA. No sentence 3 people refused immediate trials and are put under house arrest until their trial, July 18th 1 person refused an immediate trial and is in prison awaiting trial (July 18th)

“They were arrested tuesday after a “random” identity control by undercover cops on the ring road in Nantes. Amoung them was R., who had a trial Thursday and was on their way to Nantes to see their lawyer with their friends. After 48 hours of police custody, 4 of them were charged with “possession of stolen goods”, suspected of having stolen… a head lamp. Also they refused to give fingerprints and DNA. More seriously, they are accused, based on some flyers in their car and a toolbox, of “association of wrong-doers”, and “intent to commit an armed assembly in front of the courthouse in Nantes”. They risk up to 5 years in prison.”

June 20th: Hearing for S., who lives on the ZAD. He was arrested 2 days before in Orvault, accused of having stolen 2 books. He had a warrant out for participating in the February 22nd demo. He is accused of theft (with prior convictions), refusing fingerprints and DNA (with prior convictions), and participating with a weapon in an armed group, and violence against the police. He refused an immediate trial and has been put in jail awaiting his trial on July 7th.

2 people are currently in preventative detention, awaiting trial.

Climate Activists Blockade Oil Terminal, Demand Halt to Crude-by-Rail Traffic in Pacific Northwest

30th June This morning, climate justice activists with Portland Rising Tide shut down the ArcLogist

30th June This morning, climate justice activists with Portland Rising Tide shut down the ArcLogistics crude oil terminal in Northwest Portland.
Portland resident Irene Majorie, 22, locked herself to a 55-gallon barrel filled with concrete that was placed on the railroad track leading into the facility.

Train cars enter from a nearby yard to offload oil into 84 storage tanks, before it is piped onto oceangoing ships bound for West Coast refineries. Majorie’s arm was locked to a piece of metal rebar embedded in the concrete, stopping trains for four hours before being cut out by police.

Attempts by law enforcement to move her and the barrel simultaneously risked grave injury; likewise, any train traffic threatened her life.

“This is about stopping the oil trains,” said Majorie. “But beyond that, it is about an industry and an economic system that places the pursuit of profit before the lives and relationships of human beings seeking survival and nourishment, and before the communities, ecosystems, and planet of which we are a part.”

Oil trains are coming under increasing scrutiny recently owing to their propensity to derail in fiery explosions. Portland Rising Tide, however, disputes the notion that an oil train is ever safe, since crude oil is only transported to be burned. Whatever the risk of explosion, the guaranteed result is a worsening of the climate crisis, which is already wreaking ecological havoc and claiming human lives.

US crude oil production has risen from ~5 million barrels per day in the late 2000s to ~7 million barrels per day currently. Increased extraction is North Dakota’s Bakken Shale has resulted in a dramatic rise in oil train traffic, with 250 percent more oil trains traveling Oregon rail lines in 2013 than in the previous year.

Governor Kitzhaber has expressed “deep concern” about oil trains but thus far done nothing to stop them. “Society should be engaged in a rapid, radical decline in fossil fuel use,” said David Bennett. “Instead, policymakers—even those who claim to understand the magnitude of the climate crisis—are forcing us to engage in an absurd conversation about creating ‘safe’ oil trains and building more fossil fuel infrastructure.”

The ArcLogistics terminal, which began operation in January, is one piece of infrastructure facilitating increased oil production. When ongoing construction is completed, the facility will have the capacity to transport 16,250 barrels of oil per day.

In April, Portland Rising Tide entered the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s offices in downtown Portland, issued termination letters to employees at their desks, and announced the formation of a new People’s Agency, which would carry out DEQ’s mandate free of corporate influence. This is the first enforcement action of the nascent agency.

“If our policymakers listened, we would demand an immediate halt to oil train traffic in Oregon and the closure of all crude oil terminals,” said Emma Gould. “Since they don’t, we’re halting oil trains ourselves.” High resolution photos are available for download and may be used with attribution

Today’s action saw activists from across the continent joining together to say no to oil trains, showing that oil trains are an international issue of concern for people and nonhuman animals everywhere.

Blockade Halts Old-Growth Logging in Mattole Forest

30th June A forest defender has taken to the trees to defend an important area of the Mattole Riv

30th June A forest defender has taken to the trees to defend an important area of the Mattole River watershed in Northern California. Going by the name “Skunk,” the blockader is stopping the construction of a new logging road into old-growth forest.

Skunk is supported by residents of Humboldt county and allies who have worked for months to stop Humboldt Redwood Company’s plan for 1,000 acres of logging in the Mattole Forest.

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In April, activists hung a banner across from Humboldt Redwoods State Park to protest the logging in the Mattole.

While Humboldt Redwood Company claims they are not logging old-growth, their definition restricts logging only areas with more than 8 old-growth trees in the span of an acre. They also define old-growth as existing in the year 1800, cutting out any trees younger than exactly 214 years.

Skunk insists, “Our main demands to Humboldt Redwood Company are very simple—don’t cut unlogged forest, and don’t cut old-growth. This road threatens to destroy forest that has never been logged before, and will pave the way for logging even more important habitat if the community does not rise up to stop it.”

The Mattole provides shelter to Golden Eagles and Spotted Owls, among other rare species, and has long been the home of old-growth Big Leaf Maple, Douglas Fir, Tanoak, and Madrone.

This area of Northern California has a long history of forest defense against Maxxam/Pacific Lumber throughout the 1990s. What we are perhaps seeing is just the beginning of a new chapter.

Karawang Farmers Defend Land From Corporate Eviction

28th June About 1200 peasant farmers of the village of Karawang, Indonesia prepared to defend 350 hectares of farm lands that they have tended and survived off of for generations.

28th June About 1200 peasant farmers of the village of Karawang, Indonesia prepared to defend 350 hectares of farm lands that they have tended and survived off of for generations. The land in dispute has been designated by local Indonesian government for the expansion of a factory owned by Agung Podomoro and the people of Karawang seem to have no recourse except to resist.

On Tuesday the 24th, about 7000 fully equipped riot police forces descended on the village with two water cannon vehicles to enforce the land ruling. The local residents had prepared tire barricades and hand weapons yet tried first to non-violently resist the encroaching forces.

This agrarian conflict has led to the eviction of the 1,200 residents. It has become evident that the country is in favor to the owners of capital and indifferent to ordinary people, such as farmers. The proof is the verdict of PK No. 160 PK/PDT/2011 designating the Primary Water Source (PT SAMP) on land owned by residents of three villages in the District Telukjambe.

Based on the decision of the PT SAMP the land has been purchased by the Agung Podomoro group and Falkirk District Court forced the eviction on June 24, 2014, requiring 7,000 riot forces.

Results of the incident reported by the Consortium for Agrarian Reform there were 10 workers who were assaulted and one farmer who was shot by riot police and there are 13 people who were arrested.

The pitch today is still tense as Riot police have set up command posts in ditiga, Margamulya and Wanasari Wanakerta villiages. They also put up a barbed wire fence in the conflict area, covering an area of 350 ha. Currently electricity have been cut into the homes of residents who inhabit the land dispute.

So far there has been no response or attempts to provide temporary housing by the eviction company. But officials Falkirk Farmers Union (patch) said that the residents will survive even if the company and Riot police eviction use heavy equipment.

The Karawang people demand:
1. Stop the displacement towards the peasants mandated by state court of Karawang since the land has been plowed and owned legally by the peasants who pay taxes regularly and obediently to the states for tens of years.
2. Pull seven thousands armed mobile brigade back from agrarian conflict area in Karawang because they intimidate and provoke the people.
3. Solidarity from all Indonesians and comrades in struggle who supports the agrarian reform to condemn the injustice suffered by the peasants.

Villager Wins Court Battle Against Hydroelectric Plant Construction

26th June An administrative court in the Black Sea province of Rize has ruled to halt the construction of a hydroelectric power plant (

26th June An administrative court in the Black Sea province of Rize has ruled to halt the construction of a hydroelectric power plant (HES) that was being built on the Andon River, which provides fresh water to at least 3,000 people in the village of Küçükçayır.

Küçükçayır village was declared an environmentally protected site in 2011. The village’s residents held a protest in February against a HES being constructed near the river, closing the main road of the village for hours as part of their protest and not allowing construction equipment to operate at the site.

According to a Cihan news agency report on Wednesday, Kezım Delal, one of the villagers, sold a cow and took a loan from a bank in order to file a lawsuit against the construction company. Emphasizing that he has been struggling in court against the construction plan, which is likely to harm the environment, Delal said the injunction to halt construction stands as an important step towards protecting the environment from other upcoming power plant construction projects that might destroy the country’s natural beauty.

“I have been living in this village for 70 years. I was born here. This is my home. I am so happy that court ruled in favor of our future. Now, I just want to see the construction company leave us alone right away,” he told the press.

Emphasizing that they have been keeping watch for almost eight months in order to prevent the construction company from doing any damage, Delal thanked all his friends who did not leave his side during the protest. “This victory belongs to all of us. Now we can move on with our lives,” he added.

Stating that they were taken into custody by gendarmes many times due to the their protests, Yusuf Esir, another villager, said that he was happy to take a stand against the construction plans. “In order to intimidate us, gendarmes took us into custody many times. But nobody can deter us. If anybody should leave this village, it’s the construction company, not us. Because this is our village,” Esir stated.

MOBILE SLAUGHTER UNIT SABOTAGED

24th June received anonymously:

"Over the weekend, a mobile slaughter unit operated by Shoe's Mobile
Slaughter and Processing (14515 Coon Hollow Rd, Sublimity, OR) was
decommissioned by having a gallon of bleach poured into its fuel tank.
When the liquid bleach comes into contact with the diesel in the tank it
will create a chemical reaction that will cause rapid corrosion to the
unit's fuel system–forcing it to seize up. For the time being this
slaughter unit will be unable to be used to spill the blood of another
animal.

This method of sabotage was chosen because it is silent, effective, and
easily reproducible. Symbolic protest and consumer boycotts in and of
themselves are not sufficient in addressing the immediate violence that is
being carried out against non-human animals every second of everyday.
Direct intervention is necessary to free imprisoned non-humans and to
destroy the machines that facilitate their exploitation.

This action is dedicated to the memory of Clément Méric, a vegan and
anti-fascist who was beaten to death by neo-nazis in Paris a little over a
year ago. Just as we struggle against those who abuse and exploit
non-human animals; we also take an uncompromising stance against the
far-right's attempts to not only infiltrate the animal liberation and
environmental movements, but also against their attempts to assert
themselves in society in general. Let Clément's tragic death be a
reminder of the necessity for the movement to maintain a strong anti-fascist ethic and to oppose the fascist scum at every turn.

'Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living.'"

Support needed at Yorkley Court NOW

Update 24/6: The situation here is still urgent as of this morning; large numbers of security are currently trying to get on site.

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Update 24/6: The situation here is still urgent as of this morning; large numbers of security are currently trying to get on site.

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**Support needed now – Please get the the site**

Bailiffs attempted an illegal eviction at Yorkley Court Community Farm this morning & are still there and its likely they will try something on the bottom strip tonight.

More people are urgently needed to defend the land.

Even if you can just get there for a few hours, it helps to have as many people as possible on site.

Background:
In the early hours of this morning, police and private security thugs decended, without prior Notice (a legal requirement), upon the peaceful peasants living on the land, and growing food at Yorkley Court. This outragous, competely unlawful act of aggression came without warning, whilst Yorkley Court Farm are fully engaged with the District Council in their planning process, and were looking likely to be granted the initial stages of planning permission during the coming weeks. We're not sure what exactly the Council, no doubt in colusion with certain private business interests think they're doing, more information as we get it. Please come and help us stop this illegal eviction attempt

http://yorkleycourt.wordpress.com/

How to get there: Head to Yorkley, near Lydney in Gloucestershire. See a map below.

Site mobile: 07784887895