Action Reports – Page 269

Bristol Actions in Solidarity with Rising Tide’s Call to Action: August-September 2007

GOLF COURSES
Parts of 3 golf courses were dug up: Tracy Park, Wick; Knowle, Stockwood; and Filton. In Knowle a message was sprayed up near the club house reading “Decadent waste of water”.

MOBILE PHONE MAST

GOLF COURSES
Parts of 3 golf courses were dug up: Tracy Park, Wick; Knowle, Stockwood; and Filton. In Knowle a message was sprayed up near the club house reading “Decadent waste of water”.

MOBILE PHONE MAST
A mobile phone mast at Broomhill, Brislington, was sabotaged.

NON-PASSENGER RAILWAY LINE
The single track railway line that runs from the Royal Portbury Dock in Avonmouth to Parson Street in Bedminster was sabotaged. This non-passenger line transports cars and fossil fuel to the Midlands. In a wooded area on a straight section of the line the track was cut three quarters of the way through in two places and marked with high visibility paint. A warning banner reading: “Stop: Trees on line” was fixed across the line several hundred yards in front of this on the line. A pile of wood was placed across the line next to the damaged part.

This held up the transportation of cars for only half an hour, but the repair to the line took at least another 4 hours.

4x4s
within the last 6 months both front tyres punctured on 40 4x4s in and around Bristol.

A “corporate entertainment” company called 4-Play, which provides off road driving for 4x4s in the south west, had vehicles spray painted “4-play – blow-job the planet”.

15th October – Nationwide Day of Local Action against Royal Bank of Scotland – Truro…

Inspired by the Camp for Climate Action? Don’t wait till next year to take part in collective direct action against the causes of climate change. At this year’s Camp, the Rising Tide network called a Day of Local Action against RBS, major backer of the aviation industry, key funder of the Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) pipeline currently tearing up the Welsh

This is a call for groups and individuals across the land to take creative, local, direct action against RBS on Monday 15th October.

RBS: FINANCING CLIMATE CHANGE

RBS provides oil companies with the cash to build and operate drilling rigs, pipelines and oil tankers. And through Aviation Capital, RBS helps airlines to launch ever more planes – and carbon emissions – into the skies. From West Africa to the Ecuadorian rainforest, from the North Sea to the Middle East, RBS loans play a key role in forcing open the new carbon frontier, which contributes to environmental destruction, disruption of indigenous peoples and increased conflict across the planet.

RBS is the second-largest bank in Europe and has global assets of over $1120 billion, including UK brands NatWest, Direct Line and Churchill Insurance. Despite creating a heavily greenwashed public image through sponsorship of sports and the arts, RBS activities have major destructive impacts on the environment and society. The thirty oil and gas finance deals RBS signed between 2001 and 2006 locked us all into 655 million tonnes of emissions over the next 15 years, more than the UK’s entire annual emissions.

The financial institutions funnelling cash into fossil fuel projects have stood in the shadows for far too long. They may be many miles removed from oil rigs and runways, safely ensconced in shiny glass towers, but if the profit motive is at the heart of the climate crisis, the banks are as culpable as the oil and airline industries. On 15th October, it’s time to switch our spotlight onto one of the biggest climate criminals of all:
RBS, the leading financier of climate change.

Get together with your local group, build on connections made at the Camp, reach out to others in your area… and on 15th October, get out in the streets where you live and confront RBS with your own chosen style of creative direct action.

www.risingtide.org.uk

For more information download PLATFORM’s report on RBS, The Oil and Gas Bank.

To find the nearest RBS to you click here.

For help with planning effective actions visit the Network for Climate Action.

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CLIMATE CHANGE PROTEST IN TRURO – PLEASE COME.

DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND

WHERE: Outside Royal Bank of Scotland, Green St (off Lemon Quay), Truro
WHEN: 12 noon, Mon 15th Oct
CONTACT: howard@phonecoop.coop

Solidarity demos with Iceland in North East England

I feel a need to join in the 12th September international day of action – details of why on www.savingiceland.org if you don’t already know.

If you wanna join a wee demo at one of the following sites, email me or come along to the Star & Shadow cinema, Newcastle, at 6.15pm on the 11th.

I feel a need to join in the 12th September international day of action – details of why on www.savingiceland.org if you don’t already know.

If you wanna join a wee demo at one of the following sites, email me or come along to the Star & Shadow cinema, Newcastle, at 6.15pm on the 11th.

Alcoa Kama in Sedgefield, County Durham
Alcan packaging in Cramlington, Northumberland and Workington, Cumbria
Alcan smelter in Ashington, Northumberland
Alcan Aerospace facility in Workington, Cumbria

Heavy Industry is targeting the last pristine places now, pristine people need to target them back!

wordiary@yahoo.co.uk
http://www.savingiceland.org

Norewegian Whaler Scuttled

Sea Shepherd News
2/9/2007

Sunken Whaler Was a Cruel Killer

It is not a surprise that an unknown person (or persons) targeted the Willassen Senior – the outlaw Norwegian whaling vessel that was scuttled on the evening of August 30, 2007.

Sea Shepherd News
2/9/2007

Sunken Whaler Was a Cruel Killer

It is not a surprise that an unknown person (or persons) targeted the Willassen Senior – the outlaw Norwegian whaling vessel that was scuttled on the evening of August 30, 2007.

Undercover video of a Norwegian whale hunt, taken in May 2005, was released today by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). This footage is believed to be the first of its kind captured by a non-governmental organization (NGO) in over a decade. Though Norway claims to be the best in the business when it comes to accuracy and relative humaneness of commercial whale kills, the footage tells a different story.

In this video, the Willassen Senior was documented pursuing a Piked (minke) whale in choppy conditions. The whale was harpooned and subsequently riddled with bullets from a high-powered rifle. It spent 15 minutes diving, resurfacing, and rolling about on the surface in extreme agony before it finally succumbed to the attack and died.

Click here to view the footage taken by WSPA and EIA in May 2005.

The Willassen Senior is the fifth Norwegian whaling vessel to come under attack for illegal whaling activities since 1992. The complete list to date includes:

The Nybraena – scuttled dockside in December 1992 (Reine, Lofoten Islands).
The Senet – Scuttled dockside in January 1994 (Fredricksberg, Norway).
The Elin-Toril – Severely damaged in 1997.
The Morild – Sunk in 1998.
The Williassen Senior – Sunk in August 2007 (Svolvaer, Lofoten Islands).

Watch video of the sunken vesssel

More info @ : www.seashepherd.org

GM quarantine in Romania

5 September 2007

How’s this for a creative and exciting example of direct action – it’s a blockade but with a difference.

5 September 2007

How’s this for a creative and exciting example of direct action – it’s a blockade but with a difference.

Earlier this morning in Romania, Greenpeace volunteers quarantined a whole island where GM soya crops are being grown, which is illegal under EU law. Vehicles leaving Braila island were hosed down by people wearing white biohazard suits to prevent genetic contamination spreading to the mainland. Even a donkey and cart were washed and made GM-free!

As well as soya, maize and sunflowers are also grown there and the harvest has just begun, so the campaigners in Romania wanted to stop any GM crops leaving the island and ending up in the food chain. Drivers were apparently warned that they couldn’t leave the island without passing through the ‘decontamination station’ so there have been no reports of any soya-laden trucks trying to leave.

GM crops have popped up in Romania before and since the country joined the EU earlier this year, they’re now illegal. There’s also a flourishing black market in GM seeds and the widespread presence of GM food in Romanian markets. But now these illegal crops have been exposed in such an eye-catching manner, environmental standards officers on the scene have told the media that they will take care of the situation.

GM-spotters have been at work in France, painting a field of GM maize bright red to mark its position. This crop – with the snazzy name MON810 – is also illegal as neither the farmer nor the French government have notified the relevant authorities that it has been planted.

And apart from both being GM and illegal, what links these two agricultural incidents? Why, it’s our old friend, Monsanto, developer of the varieties of soya and maize in question. Funny that.
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/gm/gm-quarantine-in-romania-20070905

Be Proud to Make a Difference: Subvert an Army Ad & DSEi Day of Action, 11 September 2007, tank & critical mass

Army recruitment ads on phoneboxes in Oxford get the treatment they rightly deserve!

Shut down the arms fair:Manzil Way phonebox (Class War sticker already there!)

Pixies strike again in Oxford, this time to shut down a certain arms fair, and also to promote a certain political ideology…

http://dsei.org

Army recruitment ads on phoneboxes in Oxford get the treatment they rightly deserve!

Shut down the arms fair:Manzil Way phonebox (Class War sticker already there!)

Pixies strike again in Oxford, this time to shut down a certain arms fair, and also to promote a certain political ideology…

http://dsei.org

1pm Custom House.

Come by bus. Come by DLR. Come by bike. Come by foot. Come by tank.

Get to Custom House.

Invade ExCeL.

Shut down the arms fair.

Bring your friends.

4.30pm Canning Town bus station.

The delegates will be at your disposal.

Please use your imagination and a diversity of tactics.

Have fun…

See www.dsei.org for more information and directions.

DISARM DSEi
disarm@dsei.org

———————–
Information from today’s Space Hijackers press conference

The Space Hijackers Arms Dealing at DSEi Arms Fair

Press Release

Every two years DSEi (Defence Systems & Equipment International), the worlds largest Arms fair, happens at the ExCeL centre in east London. Selling everything from up close torture weapons to long distance civilian maiming bombs, the fair offers a wide range of choice to the 20,000 delegates traveling to the fair from an assortment of corrupt regimes and often from countries at war with each other!

Previously the Space Hijackers have attempted to disrupt the fair, disguising themselves as arms dealers, boarding trains to the fair with the dealers and then attempting to sell them prosthetic limbs (arms!) and later sex toys (we figured they were a bit too obsessed with phallic objects and were perhaps compensating for a lack of weapons capabilities elsewhere).

On all previous occasions we have been escorted out of the area by the £4million worth of police who are called in to protect the delicate souls selling the weapons in the fair. This year we have decided to learn from the arms dealers themselves and take a leaf out of their book.

After several months of fundraising and receiving investment from Artists Anonymous, The Space Hijackers are now proud owners of a Saracen Mk1 tank, which we intend to drive to the arms fair, right into the mix of protesters and police. As the protesters line up against the heavily armed police, we intend to roll up and auction our tank to the highest bidder. If this so happens to be an angry teenager in a balaclava, then so be it. We don’t see how destruction caused with our tank can possibly be our responsibility.

Several people have got in touch with us claiming that this kind of behavior is slightly reckless “what if someone drives over a police car in your tank?” Our response is simple: we are simply looking to make a profit, it’s just business transaction. As with the arms dealers and their weapons, once the goods are out of our hands, how can we be held accountable for how they are used?

So ladies and gentlemen, roll up to the arms fair this September 11th and join in the bidding. We will have a promotions team on hand to make the event memorable, dancing girls and boys, music and of course a 10 tonne armored vehicle ready to be driven away!

For more information please visit:

http://www.spacehijackers.org
http://www.dsei.org

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As part of a week of action against the DSEi arms fair there will be a ‘Bikes not Bombs’ critical mass’ bike ride meeting up at Bank tube station at 10:30am on Tuesday, and riding to the arms fair. Bikes and any other human-powered vehicle welcome – no tanks!

There will also be a ride on Thursday evening for the arms dealers’ dinner, leaving from by the NFT under Waterloo Bridge at 6:30pm.

http://dsei.org/

Western Animal Rights Network launched! + Animal Rights Copwatch

WARN (Western Animal Rights Network) is a coalition for animal liberationists that was originally launched in 2005 but ceased to be after activists moved away from the West. We hope to be a support base for activists and be a gateway into the animal rights movement for people looking to get involved in animal liberation in the West of the UK.

WARN has re-launched with a new website with demo reports, direct action, events, vegan and AR info, campaign materials, clothing and kit for those of us activists who like to out after the sun has gone down.

We will be producing a “Schnews” style double sided A4 newsletter every month and a yearly magazine with all the years actions and loads of info included.

WARN will be active in the following areas and we encourage groups to please help us out with content including demo / action reports (via PGP) not to mention any other content, events or action alerts you want on the site.

* South West England
o Bristol
o North Somerset
o Gloucestershire
o Wiltshire
* West Midlands
o Worcestershire
o Herefordshire
o Shropshire
o Warickshire
o Staffordshire
o Birmingham
o Coventry
o Dudley
o Sandwell
o Solihull
o Walsall
o Wolverhampton
* Wales
o Monmouthshire
o Carmarthenshire
o Glanmorgan
o Breconshire
o Pembrokeshire

With the creation of NETCU and (over)use of SOCPA and other legislation which is making lawful protest near impossible these days we have taken it upon ourselves in conjunction with NETCU WATCH (www.vivisection.info/netcu_watch) to start a blog and post details of illegal police activities and the photos and names / numbers of police officers involved with the crackdown on legal protest. We hope to build an information base which will be available to use as a defence in court.

Check out http://arcopwatch.wordpress.com

And submit your cop pics with any relevant information to copwatch@animalliberation.co.uk

Thanks for the support!

info @ animalliberation.co.uk
http://www.animalliberation.co.uk

Free Julio! No more dams!

Julio Villanueva, member of the group Solidari@s con Itoiz, was arrested on August 17th in Iruñea-Pamplona. He was arrested by the local police ant imprisoned next morning.

Villanueva is one of the eight activists that in April 1996 stopped the construction works of Itoiz dam by cutting the cables on the concrete transporter. The eight solidarios were sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison for the sabotage. Two of them have already served the jail sentences passed on them. So Villanueva is the third member of Solidar@s con Itoiz imrisoned for the direct action against Itoiz reservoir. He’s been untiil now in clandestinity like the rest of the remaining six, something which we can consider a huge punishment too.

Support actions

On August 18th about one hundred people gathered outside the prison of Pamplona-Iruñea to protest against the inprisonment of Julio Villanueva. Two days later another gathering of support for Julio took place in front of the jail. Solidari@s con Itoiz urges citizens to join another protest to demand freedom for Julio next Monday, August 27th, at 7 pm in the same place.

You can also support Julio by sending him messages:

Julio Villanueva

Prisión de Pamplona-Iruñea

Calle San Roque s/n

Apdo. 250

31071 PAMPLONA-IRUÑEA

More earthquakes caused by Itoiz reservoir water storage

Earthquakes caused by the Itoiz reservoir water storage have not ceased in last months. In fact, they have increased in number ( 1.200 earthquakes since summer 2004, when they started filling up the reservoir) and in the same way they are increasing the danger of an inminent catastrophe at Itoiz. As the earthquake map shows, more and more seismic events are having epicentre in the very same Itoiz reservoir, which increases seriously the risk of landslides into the reservoir, endangering thousands of people´s lives. More details available at: www.itoizstop.org

Read and spread this message!

FREDOM FOR JULIO!!! STOP THE DAMS!!!

Solidari@s con Itoiz

Sindominio.net/sositoz

sositoiz@sindominio.net

Scotland’s first SOCRAP charges – 6 arrested inside Faslane high security area

Faslane Naval Base, Scotland, September 4, 2007, 06.30 a.m.
Police say 3 women have been arrested inside the high security fences at the Trident nuclear submarine base after entering the base to get further information on the weapons of mass destruction deployed by the UK government in contravention of Scottish and International Law. According to the police, the women, who were acting to uphold the law, are being charged under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, which is increasingly being used to prevent peaceful protests at sensitive sites, including Britain’s nuclear bases.

Lavinia Crossley, Tansy Newman Turner and Emma Bateman, all part of a group calling themselves the ‘Faslane 365 Serious Organised Crime Investigation and Prevention Team’, went into the base to find evidence on the rules of engagement, policies and procedures for the deployment, targeting and use of nuclear weapons and to discover what information is provided to personnel about the legal, safety and security implications of their work on Trident. Their action kicks off the last month of the Faslane 365 year-long blockade, in which almost 1000 people from all over the world have been arrested.

In carrying the nonviolent resistance to the illegal deployment and renewal of Trident into the submarine base itself, the women took this action because they consider that the deployment of Trident constitutes preparation for a war crime. This violation of Scottish and international law is compounded by the UK Government’s policies of deployment, constituting an ever-present threat to use Trident. The women’s action was against both the current deployment and the government’s stated intention to replace the current Trident-carrying Vanguard-class submarines with new ballistic missile submarines, in breach of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of which Britain is a Party.

“Nuclear weapons are immoral and illegal,” said Lavinia Crossley (22) from Bradford. “I feel I have to act because if I do not, who will? The Government continues to cover up the illegality of these weapons and instead pretend that we are the criminals.”

Emma Bateman (40), from Leicester, said, “It is ridiculous to threaten Iran with sanctions for possibly wanting nuclear weapons when we have actual WMD here and ready to be used.”

Tansy Newman Turner (21), also from Leicester, said, “Nuclear weapons are not much use against terrorism and this legislation is an admission that Faslane is a target for terrorists, thus putting us in more danger. Nuclear weapons pose a threat and danger to us, not a protection or deterrent.”

The “Faslane 365 Blockade” started on October 1, 2006. Thousands have participated and more than 930 people have been arrested. On October 1st there will be a celebratory “Big Blockade’ involving all the blockading groups that have participated throughout the year.

See www.faslane365.org for photographs and further information.

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At 11.00a.m. today, 3 more peace protesters breached security at the North gate of the Faslane nuclear submarine base, entering on bicycles. This second team from the ‘Faslane 365 Serious Organised Crime Investigation and Prevention Team’ follows the earlier arrest of 3 women inside the base. It is understood that they are being charged under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA). The total number of Scottish SOCRAP arrests is now 6.

Like the 3 earlier Faslane 365 activists, arrested at around 4.30 a.m. this morning after climbing the high security fences, Janet Fenton, Angie Zelter and Wolf Konowski entered the Faslane base to find evidence on the rules of engagement, policies and procedures for the deployment, targeting and use of nuclear weapons and to discover what information is provided to personnel about the legal, safety and security implications of their work on Trident.

Janet Fenton (60) from Edinburgh said, “The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act does not have backing in Scotland. It is there to stop people exposing the real law-breaking of the UK Government. The deployment of Trident is illegal according to the World Court.”

Angie Zelter (56) from Norfolk said, “The law must not be used to protect illegalities. SOCAP is political legislation that makes it a criminal offence for protesters to go into Faslane when it is our legal, civil and moral duty to uphold the law by exposing and preventing preparations for mass murder.”

Wolf Konowski (43) from Germany, added, “For evil to triumph it is only necessary for good people to do nothing.”

Note for editors:
The “Faslane 365 Blockade” started on October 1, 2006. Thousands have participated and more than 930 people have been arrested. On October 1st there will be a celebratory “Big Blockade’ involving all the blockading groups that have participated throughout the year.

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCAP) became law in 2005, and amended by the Terrorism Act 2006. Under the rubric of defending against terrorism, SOCAP makes it a criminal offence to “trespass” on certain areas of land, including military facilities, such as the Trident nuclear weapons base at Faslane

The United Kingdom currently deploys up to 200 nuclear warheads on US Trident missiles, carried on nuclear submarines based at the Faslane Naval Base in Scotland. The majority of warheads are 100 kilotonnes, which is more than 8 times bigger than the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The UK is facing a highly controversial decision on whether to get the next generation of Trident nuclear weapons or move towards genuine nuclear disarmament, as required under the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and subsequent international agreements, as specified by the International Court of Justice in 1996. Recent opinion polls show that 80 percent of people living in Scotland (and 55 percent in the UK as a whole) are opposed to nuclear weapons and want Trident to be cancelled. On June 14, the Scottish Parliament voted against Trident by 71 votes to 16 (with 39 abstentions).

See www.faslane365.org for photographs and further information.

CONTACT Rebecca Johnson: 077333 60955
www.faslane365.org

2 coal actions in Australia

Australia: Coal Power Station shut down in APEC climate protest
3.09.2007

Activists have shut down power generation at the Loy Yang power station in Gippsland’s Latrobe Valley in Victoria on Monday morning for five hours, as a protest against inaction on climate change by the Australian Government of John Howard, and policies that maintain the coal power industry and its contribution to climate change at the expense of developing renewable energy production. The action was undertaken to send a message to APEC leaders to take real action on Climate Change and the Kyoto protocol.

At least four activists from Real Action on Climate Change entered the power station at 5am and locked themselves on to a coal conveyor and an overburden conveyor belt, forcing the shutdown of the 600 megawatt generator, halving production from Victoria’s biggest coal fired power station that supplies 30% of the states power, the dirtiest power supply in the developed world.

Another power unit at Loy Yang is out for maintenance and today’s forced shutdown has dropped power output to half. The electricity price in Victoria has risen to $63 because of the action and is expected to cost the operators thousands of dollars in lost production.

Spokeperson Michaela Stubbs said the action was intended to send a message to APEC leaders meeting in Sydney this week.

“We’re already seeing the effects of climate change and it’s our generation and future generations that are going to be dealing with the long term consequences of climate change,” she said in an ABC news report. “We need to see real action now, through the Kyoto process.”

The Group say they are making a stand for all Australians to protect our community against the dangers of climate change. The group says the APEC meeting is being used to further the lies and deciet being spread by Prime Minister Howard in regards to the Climate Change issue and his continuing efforts to undermine the Kyoto Protocol. A group spokesperson said that Climate Change ends with leaving coal in the ground.

“We need real action on climate change to stop our reliance on polluting forms of energy such as coal and move towards a renewable energy future.” said spokesperson Michaela Stubbs. “Real action on climate change is about people power not coal power” said Michaela Stubbs.

Police Search and Rescue squad were forced to cut the activists free from the conveyor belts, and they have been taken to Traralgon police station in the La Trobe Valley.

Sources:

* Beyond Zero Emissions Media Release Sept 3, 207 – Protesters block coal supply to Loy Yang Power station
* Scoop Sept 3, 2007 – Real Action: People Power, Not Coal Power
* ABC online, Sept 3, 2007 – Climate protest shuts down power station
* ABC online, Sept 3, 2007 – Michaela Stubbs on ABC Radio 774 (MP3)
* Blog, Sept 3, 2007 – Real Action on Climate Change for account of action and photos
* Climate IMC, 3 Sept 2007 This is real action on climate change

Repost of original story from Sydney Indymedia:
http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/apec-climate-change-protest-shuts-down-victorian-coal-power-station

Video: www.engagemedia.org/Members/raocc/videos/loyyang.ogg/view

APEC videos/vodcast: engagemedia.org/apec
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Australia: Greenpeace activists stage APEC coal protest
2.09.2007

Twelve Greenpeace activists have been arrested at the world’s biggest coal port at Newcastle, 160km north of Sydney, after painting the message “Australia Pushing Export Coal” on the side of a coal ship, The Endeavour, and unfurling a large banner in Chinese calling on China to be cautious of John Howard and George Bush’s attempts to sabotage Kyoto. The protest comes at the start of the 2007 APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum meeting being hosted by Australian Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney 2-9 September 2007, and being attended by USA President George Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Pacific rim leaders.

The protest was enacted at dawn on Sunday September 2 to highlight the Australian Government’s real APEC agenda: to protect Australia’s coal export industry by undermining the Kyoto Protocol. The message was painted in two metre high letters to highlight to the world that Australia’s addiction to coal is behind its spoiler role in international negotiations on climate change. According to Greenpeace, the message exposes the Howard Government’s real APEC agenda: to protect Australia’s coal export industry by undermining the Kyoto Protocol.

“Australia’s climate policy is to ‘Push Export Coal’ and to hell with the consequences for the planet,” said Ben Pearson, Greenpeace energy campaigner.

“Real action on climate change means moving away from coal and shifting to clean, renewable energy – and we don’t have the luxury of time for expensive talkfests that have no concrete outcomes. Like any dealer protecting its patch, Australia’s government under John Howard is blatantly ignoring global efforts to extend and strengthen Kyoto, the only internationally binding agreement to deal with climate change – and pushing instead a hopelessly vague distraction through APEC.”

More than four million tonnes of coal will be exported from Newcastle during APEC, resulting in over 11 million tonnes of CO2 emissions – equivalent to the annual emissions from 800,000 average Australian households, according to Greenpeace. Factoring in the costs of climate change impacts, as detailed in the Stern Review, Australia’s coal exports will result in more than $1.2 billion of damage during the APEC week alone, and $64 billion annually, Greenpeace calculated.

Newcastle, already the world’s largest coal port, is set for a major expansion to double its capacity for exporting coal.

“At a time when we need to see deep reductions in greenhouse gases, Australia is not only refusing to act, but is also increasing the greenhouse pollution it exports to the rest of the world. Australia’s climate policy is to protect coal exports at the expense of the climate rather than make the switch to renewable energy and improved energy efficiency measures we know we need to make.” explained Ben Pearson, Greenpeace Australia energy campaigner.

Under a new police powers Act protesters arrested durng the summit week will have a presumption against bail. Police from Sydney travelled to Newcastle to discuss charges against the Greenpeace activists, but no action was taken under the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007. Eleven activists were charged with malicious damage and a twelfth with dangerous navigation: all were released on bail later in the day.

The APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007 came into force on August 30 and remain valid to September 12, 2007. It includes a list of people the police can exclude from the city centre, plus expanded powers of stop, search and detention, and confiscation of items from people. APEC signals the rise of military urbanism in Australia.

NSW Police Minister David Campbell has said that antiwar demonstrators and anyone else considered “suspicious” will be arrested and detained without bail for the duration of the September 6-9 summit. People on the ‘excluded list’ will be denied access to restricted zones, without any recourse or avenue of appeal. The Daily Telegraph has already published a list of 29 people with their photos allegedly on this list. The measures in this Act amount to a new form of detention without trial, and constitute a direct attack on freedom of political expression and movement, aimed at outlawing dissent and stifling opposition to the APEC meeting.

Much of the northern CBD of Sydney will be contained by a nine foot high concrete and wire security fence, dubbed unofficially the Great Wall of APEC.

The coal ship, The Endeavour, sailed out of Newcastle at 11.30am Sunday local time, with the painted message already removed.

Sources:

* Greenpeace Australia Media Release Sept 2, 2007 – Howard’s real APEC agenda spelled out in coal protest
* Daily Telegraph Sept 2, 2007 – APEC arrests begin with Greenpeace protest
* Sydney Morning Herald August 30, 2007 – Police get special APEC powers
* WSWS.org May 21, 2007 – Australia: Police-state measures for APEC summit in Sydney

Original story at Sydney Indymedia:
http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/newcastle%3A-greenpeace-activists-arrested-apec-coal-protest