Wilderness Defence – Page 7

Two Blockades Evicted at Hambach Forest Occupation

October 30th, 2014

RWE Wachschutz injures activists. One person losing consciousness due to beating by the security. Activists choked and arrested with cable ties.

Today was another blockade of cutting and logging in the Hambacher Forest, within the campaign “No Tree is Falling”.
At this blockade the RWE Security attacked the activists with batons and pepper spray. At this point some activists got injured.

In response a second blockade happened to make the security and the loggers aware that they injured activists. At this point security attacked the activists harshly with batons and pepper spray. In addition the logging machine was heading directly towards the activists. During this attack three activists were injured, one of them losing consciousness for a moment. Also the RWE private security arrested three people, they choked them and bond them with cable tie. Activists defended themselves. After one hour police showed up and arrested 3 more persons. The police came from Düren and also the Arrested people will be brought there.
Come around and support the Blockades. Show Solidarity everywhere, thats what the people need here.
Press Contact: 015754136100

The Hambacher forest is the site of an ongoing land defense campaign in Germany. The forest sits at the edge of a lignite (brown coal) mine and is under imminent threat from mine expansion.

News Ticker:

– several ambulance cars driving in the forest.
– police is evicting the blockades together with RWE Security
– The „Pile“ (Fort on the way to the Squatted Trees) is surround and activists are on Tripods and Trees.

12:00: Policenews: Activists got arrested because of breaking Civil Laws. Probably to MünchenGladbach, Bergheim, and Düren. (Not Confirmed)
– around 100 Cops are in the Forest.
– Police and RWE Security tried to evict the „Pile“ with heavy Machines, although activists where in the blockade and there life was put at risk.
13:00 Work was stopped. Police said they want to finish the eviction until 15:00. 4 Persons are in the „Pile“
13:05 Until Now 6 Persons got arrested. But they‘re still in the Forest.
Black flag flying Song
13:50 Police is driving with heavy eviction machines in the Forest. Also more Cops are on the way in the forest.
14:00 Logging Work is started again. Trees on the way to Treeblockade are cuted to make way for the eviction.
14:10 Activists are transported out of the Forest. Cherry Pickers are driving in the Forest.
15:30 Seven more Police Cars drove to the forest. Now there are 3 Riot Units in the Forest.
– In the „Pile“ Blockade are actually 4 activists. One in the Trees, One in the Tunnel, Two on Tripods. The „Pile“ is completely surrounded by police
– At the Treeblockade until now there is no Security and Police. Only the way for heavy machines is ready.
15:45 Eviction of the Pile started. Cherrypicker is build up.
16:07 Police in Plain Clothes is watching the Meadow occupation.
16:30 Activists locked themselves to the barricade (Pile)
16:50 One Person got evicted from Tripod at the „Pile“
– Another Unit of Riot Police drove to the Forest.
– Tree Blockade „Grubenblick“ is surrounded.
– Cherry-Picker and Floodlight is at the Blockade.
– One Person is in the Trees above the „Pile“
17:30 I seems like the Police is stopping the evictions.
– The „Pile“ is evicted. One Person is still in the Trees. 3 more Persons got arrested.
18:00 The Barricade is pushed together by the police with heavy machines. The police is touching the tree on which the last person is sitting. Due to that the police risk the life of the activist. That has been pointed out to the police several time but the dont stop the work.
– Climbing Police arrived at the Tree Ocupation „Grubenblick“.
18:20 Nine Policecars are on the way to the part of the forest near the meadow.
20:30 The Searching on the Meadow by the Police is finished. More Information soon.
21:45 In the last 3 hours the following things happened:
– The Treeocupation „Grubenblick“ is evicted. The activists got arrested.
– The activist on the tree at the „pile“ blockade is still up there. Climbing Police is on the spot. At the Moment the Cherry-Picker is raised up.
– The first Person got released at the police station in Düren.

modified slightly from Hambach Forest Blog

80 Arrested At Spontaneous Protests Over #ZAD Remi Fraisse’s Assassination By French Police

October 30th, 2014

80 people have been arrested simply for speaking up against state terror and capitalism, by a total panicked riot police force in Paris desperate to repress spontaneous demonstrations over the execution of 21 year old Remi Fraisse at Testet.

The streets of Paris, Lyon and other cities have been covered in anti-capitalist, anti-police and anti-state messages; the signs of rage over the assassination by the police of a 21 year old pacifist, and defender of the Testet forest.

Cops encircled people, trapped them, captured them and dragged them to police vans simply for being on the streets and speaking up, such police brutality and abuses simply remind of well known totalitarian regimes, deplored by Europe all over the world, except in Europe.

Remi Fraisse died on the spot when he was hit by a tear gas grenade fired by riot police Saturday night during the repression of a protest in the Testet forest to stop a dam which will profit some industrial farmers at the cost of destroying 40 ha of forest.

Witnesses’ testimonies forced cops to admit they killed Remi. A state official called him “stupid” for “dying for an idea”. While state officials are trying to control the public rage over the police killing by claiming that patience is needed for “proper investigation”, the boss of riot police said that Remi’s murder was a fatality and that no cop will be suspended. He hinted no cop will be held accountable either. Images filmed just prior to Remi’s assassination expose the barbarism of the police and their brutality in repressing the protests.

Images above have been aired by France 2 aired and they prove the barbarism of the police repression against ZAD. Cops fired with intent to kill, unlike what their boss says, they fired tear gas grenades at people who were several meters from them.

Hundreds gathered in spontaneous demonstrations, called “illegal” by the French media, in Paris, triggering a massive deployment of cops. 200 people were interrogated by police for simply being on the streets. Cops tried to stir violence, they encircled over 100 protestors around the town hall and tried to kettle them. Protests are announced in Italy tomorrow, too.The chief of riot police claims that cops have the right to kill because “they did not have the intention” to murder Remi, he says it’s not “conceivable” to suspend cops over the assassination of Remi. This cop positioned himself above any state law, since prosecutors claim that the “investigations” of Remi’s assassination continue. Apparently, anyone’s life is cancelled just at the sight of cops in Europe, since they are not responsible when they fire their lethal projectiles. Remi’s death is also another proof that police riot weaponry cause death, but it seems that since they are called non-“lethal” by the apologists of state barbarism, cops who use them are absolved of any responsibility. Death is what awaits anyone who stands in the way of profits which in Europe are placed above all, life, human needs and environment.

Footage from protest in the evening of October 26th in the town of Gaillac in the Tarn department:

http://youtu.be/jUQjY1tRVAw

http://youtu.be/rbeBMBHxixM

Argentina: Quechua Community Members Occupy Airport During Second Day of Protest Against Plupetrol

October 29th, 2014

Inhabitants inform the authorities that, if their requests are not respected, they will be taking more direct measures, such as manually closing pipeline valves. They ask that DINOES (Special Operation Division) does not intervene.

October 29th, 2014

On the second day of protesting against the negligent decisions of Pluspetrol, a dominating E&P private company originating from Argentina, Quechua inhabitants took their retaliation to the airport.

During a press conference, Aurelio Chino Dahua, president of Fediquep (Indigenous Quechua Federation of the Pastaza), explained that the people feel deceived by both the corporation and the state. He relates such uneasiness to the the state’s disengagement from alleviating Pluspetrol’s social-environmental impacts on the community, even in the face of raw evidence.

The indigenous leader also projects his indignation towards the government’s lack of commitment, stating that, although the Quechua people have fostered active dialogue with the authorities since 2011, not one program has been implemented with the sole purpose of meeting their demands.

Dahua reiterated that, during the last months, Pluspetrol Norte has been eroding and dividing the communities, and that Fediquep has been blatantly ignoring the inhabitants’ rights. For such reasons, he proposes that the company retreats from the area and, if they wish to resume the operation, heeds to the community’s direct participation. It is also being demanded that families are connected to the electricity that is provided by Loreto Regional Government and Plustpetrol.

Meanwhile in Nuevo Andeos, the people hold their grounds in hopes that attention will finally be brought to their demands.

Not too long ego, it was them who requested a remediation process of Shanshococha Lagoon, as well as adequate compensation for Pluspetrol’s experimentation throughout the past 15 years.

As the converstation moves, it is evident that yesterday’s demonstration in Nuevo Andoas is being vigorously supported by surrounding areas within the Pastaza and that will surely resonate beyond.

[EF! Newswire Note: The following post is a loose translation of an article first published by Servindi.]

21 Year Old ZAD Activist Killed in Clashes with Police at Testet Dam Resistance

October 26th, 2014

17 hours after police attacked again the ZAD resistance in Testet, south of France, a 21 year old ZADist was found dead. During the clashes, witnesses say they saw a man collapse and noticed the police taking him away.

On Saturday, October 25th, thousands of people from all over France gathered at Testet in opposition to the dam project and the violent repression of the ZAD resistance, which is ongoing for years, and has increased in the past months.

Police attacked the protestors to remove them, and some militants battled the cops until late in the night. Police fired rubber bullets, tear gas grenades; several protestors were badly injured.

Later in the night, firefighters and police claimed they have found the body of a man in the woods, while eye witnesses who were there say the body was found at police roadblocks.

“A witness said he saw someone collapse in clashes and being removed by the police“ , says Ben has Lefetey, spokesman for the Collective for safeguarding wetland Testet, during a press conference Sunday morning.

Police blame the clashed on the resistance, to justify the brutal repression they enforced on the protestors. The commander of the gendarmerie Tarn, quoted by the AFP, claimed that “100-150 anarchists masked and dressed in black threw incendiary devices” and other projectiles at police surrounding a mobilization “2000″ opponents.

In a statement, the association Action for the Environment says: “Acting for the Environment can see that after several weeks of police violence indiscriminately and sometimes outside any legal framework (identity papers and personal effects burned, disrespect private areas …), the police have once again made use of rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas and even though the event took place in a good atmosphere [sic] -child. The presence of the police at the end of the day will appear again for what it is: a provocation leading to a tragedy.”

“According to preliminary information we have collected, the death took place in the context of clashes with the police at 2:00 am. We are not saying that the security forces have killed an opponent, but a witness we said the deaths happened during clashes, “he told AFP by phone Ben Lefetey, spokesperson of the group Save the wetland Testet, which includes most of the opponents of the dam project . “We do not know more about the cause of death.”

Contacted, the prefecture did not want to comment. The prosecutor in Albi, Claude Derens, refused to make any comment “before the results of the autopsy will take place tomorrow (Monday) in the afternoon.” According to a source close to the investigation, the young man who died was 21 years old and “was among those who were in the midst of clashes last night” (Saturday).

“The proposed reservoir dam 1.5 million m3 of water stored is growing figure “Notre-Dame-des-Landes Southwest”, in reference to this common Loire-Atlantique, where significant mobilization caused the freeze in 2012 the creation of a new airport. Since the beginning of clearing September 1, skirmishes and rallies have multiplied around the site. The proposed water retention is supported by the General Council of the Tarn. Opponents denounce an expensive project for, according to them, only a small number of farmers practicing intensive agriculture.”

“Member of the Paris collective support Notre-Dame-des-Landes and sympathizers es-es of the opponent Testet. According to the information available, one of us died that night during clashes with riot police in the ZAD Testet. Neither oblivion or pardon.”

Massive protests are announced later on Sunday.

Construction of Areng Dam Continues Despite Natives Protests

October 21st, 2014

Regardless of the dam’s progression, Chong inhabitants continue to express their discontent.

The detention and release of 11 environmental activists in Cambodia’s Areng Valley in mid-September ended the last major protests of the controversial Stung Cheay Areng hydro dam project.

Activists had been detaining and blocking convoys of vehicles into the valley since March of this year, but their makeshift roadblock has since been commandeered by the country’s Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

The valley’s native Chong inhabitants have watched the dam project grow with a mixture of fear and bitterness. The Chong have dwelt along the Areng for over 600 years but soon, if the dam is completed, it will flood at least 26,000 acres of land. Mother Jones writes that the estimates range between 40 and 77 square miles.

This will displace more than 1,500 people, and is already inviting the rape of the Central Cardamom Protected Forest. To begin the dam project, new roads had to be built to transport equipment back and forth, providing free access to unscrupulous timber companies. At least 20,000 cubic yards of rosewood (worth an estimated $220 million in timber) have been illegally logged since the dam project began.

The dam itself is being constructed by Sinohydro Resources, China’s largest dam-building contractor and its third firm to take on the task. Initially, China Southern Power Grid was to build the dam, but relinquished its contract with the Cambodian government in 2010 on purportedly “moral” grounds.

A report from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency on the project later pointed out that the dam would only generate an output of 108 megawatts – too little for so high a monetary and environmental cost.

China Guodian Corporation was the next firm to take up the project, but pulled out in 2013. They, too, found the dam to be economically unviable.

Though the dam would be hypothetically capable of generating enough power for 87,000 homes, International Rivers argues that “the dam will only operate at 46 percent capacity during the dry season, precisely when Cambodia most needs the electricity.”

In addition to this low energy output, the dam is projected to be more of a burden to Cambodia than a blessing – even without taking the valley’s 31 endangered animals into account. Areng is just one of 17 dams the country wants to build over the next two decades, but most of their power will be exported to neighboring countries. What’s worse, Sinohydro will own the dam for the next 40 years before turning it over to the Cambodian government, at which time the dam’s maintenance costs and environmental impacts will potentially make it worthless to the country.

Despite all this, Cambodia’s Minister of Mines and Energy and Minister of Environment have both stated that the Areng dam is on schedule for completion by 2020.

But that hasn’t stopped natives from protesting.

“Even if they piled money one meter above my head, I don’t want their Chinese money,” one villager told Mother Jones’ Kalyanee Mam. “I want to stay in my village. Even with all this money, I could only spend it in this life. I wouldn’t be able to pass it on to my grandchildren. I just want my village and my land for the future of my grandchildren.”

by Planet Experts

Manitoba Hydro Evicted from Northern Dam Station by Protesters

October 17th, 2014

Protesters have forced employees of Manitoba Hydro out of the Jenpeg generating station in northern Manitoba.

The protesters, from Pimicikamak Cree Nation, delivered an oversized evicted notice on Friday to staff at the station and the employee housing complex, both of which are located on the Nelson River in Pimicikamak territory.

“The building is empty, locked, undamaged and under the Pimicikamak flag,” states a release from the Cree Nation, which is located approximately 525 kilometres by air north of Winnipeg.

A few hydro personnel remain inside the dam itself to monitor the facility. Pimicikamak guarantees the safety and well-being of these people, and ensures that hydro facilities will not be damaged.”

The protesters want compensation for damages caused by flooding from the dam, which opened in 1979.

“The hydro system floods 65 square kilometres of Pimicikamak land and causes severe damage to thousands of kilometres of shoreline,” Chief Cathy Merrick stated in the press release. “Outlying grave sites have been washed away; Pimicikamak people have died as a result of semi-submerged debris from eroding shorelines and unsafe ice conditions caused by hydro.

“The project has turned a once bountiful and intimately known homeland into a dangerous and despoiled power corridor.”

Jenpeg, which Manitoba Hydro uses to control outflows from Lake Winnipeg into the Nelson River system, is located about 20 kilometres from Cross Lake, which is the main Pimicikamak settlement with some 8,000 residents.

“This is our home; we will not let it be trampled,” said Merrick. “This dam has been great for the south but for us it is a man-made catastrophe. Hydro needs to clean up the mess it has created in our homeland. Hydro needs to treat us fairly.”

She said the provincial government has spoken about reconciliation with all hydro-affected peoples, and a “new era” of “partnership” but so far none of that has happened.

The hydro system produces $3.8 million worth of power on its five Nelson River dams every day, according to Merrick, who noted it “has not contributed to ‘the eradication of mass poverty and mass unemployment’ as was contemplated in the 1977 Northern Flood Agreement.

“The NFA says affected people will be dealt with fairly and equitably,” she said, adding, “In many parts of Canada, governments and companies are realizing that everyone benefits when the tremendous wealth and opportunity of the land is shared fairly.”

Pimicikamak’s road map to positive change includes:

A public apology from Premier Greg Selinger for past and present harms suffered by all hydro-affected peoples and their lands.
A commitment from Manitoba and Manitoba Hydro to engage in a good-faith process to fulfill promises in the NFA, including measures related to community development, environmental mitigation and maximum employment opportunities.
A revenue sharing agreement and/or water rental arrangement with Pimicikamak.

“The Pimicikamak people will not leave Jenpeg until Manitoba and Hydro make substantive commitments to follow the course outlined above,” Merrick said.

The chief and council will be meeting with provincial and hydro officials at the Jenpeg station on Friday.

Hambach: Trees with Platforms Felled

October 17th, 2014

The daily madness continues.
This morning activists from the tree ocupation “Grubenblick“ reported about an unpleasent visit beneath their platforms:
RWE, Kötters Security and the Police with a cherrypicker. The occupation is directly at the edge of the clearcut, no more than 100 meters distance to the hole of the [open cast coal] mine. Some pictures from Grubenblick
The workers of the landmurdering company RWE cut down trees which had platforms on them. Soon after the police came by and examined the occupied trees of “Grubenblick“. Presumably they made preparations for an eviction.

Now it is quiet again, the activists of Grubenblick stay in the trees and have a hideous look on the deepest hole of europe and uncountable treestumps.

Hambach Treesitter Suffers Fall

October 16th, 2014

Helicopter rescues fallen climbing activist – climbing partner arrested without reason

On Monday, a French activist fell down from a 8 metre high platform at a forest occupation near the clearcut border of the open cast mine Hambach. A helicopter brought the conscious accident victim to the nearby hospital. Another forest occupant was arrested by the police during the rescue mission and was held at the police station in Düren for several hours without reason. For 3 years, activists have been protesting in the Hambach Forest against Europe’s biggest open cast mine, which is located between Cologne and Aachen.

“Our yearlong experience, tutorials, training sessions and international security standards, show: We are professionals. The security of the activists is our first priority.“, explains Nina Wagner, climbing trainer and forest occupant. The activists now want to clear the case completely and search for failures in the security procedures. It’s the first serious accident since the start of the protest, which is held daily in the forest, elevated from at least 8 metres. “Our activists know, why they do their protest in the top of the trees. We are determined to resist the climate killer brown coal, even at high personal risk.” continues Wagner.

Though the rescue was successful, the activists are very concerned about the accident. “She’s in our thoughts, and we hope that she will recover from her injuries.” says Wagner. After the fall, the occupants reacted quickly and started to immediately perform first aid. While one team took care of the emergency call, another removed the barricades, which are normally in place to prevent an eviction by police forces, to clear the way for the rescue team. In the future, more stringent security measures will be in place in order to avoid another rare incident like this. The victim, which was able to speak directly after the fall, was brought by helicopter to the university hospital in Aachen.

Ts’ka7 Warriors Burn Down Imperial Metals Ruddock Creek Mine Bridge

Secwepemc Ts’ka7 Warriors deactivate Imperial Metals Ruddock Creek mine road.

Inter

Secwepemc Ts’ka7 Warriors deactivate Imperial Metals Ruddock Creek mine road.

International Statement, October 14, 2014

With much discussion with Elders Councils and around Sacred fires and ceremonies the Secwepemc Ts’ka7 Warriors have acted out their collective responsibility and jurisdiction to and in the Ts’ka7 area by deactivating the Imperial Metals Ruddock Creek mine road.

Imperial Metals Corporation never asked for or received free, prior and informed consent to operate in Secwepemc Territory. The Imperial Metals Mount Polley mine disaster, in the area known as Yuct Ne Senxiymetkwe, the absolute destruction and devastation of our Territory has never been answered for. No reparations have been made. Instead Imperial Metals continues to force through another mine in our Territory while criminalizing the Klabona Keepers of the Tahltan Nation also exerting their jurisdictional and withholding consent from the same company.

The genocidal displacement of the Secwepemc from their Homelands through starvation, fear and assimilation by the state and industry being acted out by Imperial Metals stops now. We are committed to the ongoing protection of our Territory. Our salmon is sacred, our land is sacred, our Women are sacred, our water is sacred and we the Peoples, the rightful title holders are the decision makers and we will protect them.

Agreements made by elected chief and council do not have authority and do not represent us. This is a warning to Imperial Metals Corporation: Leave our Lands and do not come back. This is a warning to the provincial government: You do not have jurisdiction on this Land to issue permits to any corporation. This is a warning to investors (including the province), contractors, suppliers and subsidiaries: Divest from Imperial Metals Corporation. We the Secwepemc, united, will not allow Imperial Metals Corporation to continue. Secwepemc Law will prevail in our Territory.
Secwepemculecw wel me7 yews, wel me7 yews
Secwepemc Ts’ka7 Warriors

Kinder Morgan Surveyor Office Blocked by ‘Pipeline’, Canada

October 7th, 2014

Activists installed a “pipeline” early this moring in front of the downtown offices of McElhanney mapping. The adhoc group says the company was tageted for its part in surveying for the controversial Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion plan on Burnaby Mountain.

The group erected a pvc pipeline, complete with dripping ‘bitumen’ and notices to “Get off Burnaby Mountain.”

From the group’s release:

“Early this morning the entrance to McElhanney’s downtown Vancouver office was blockaded. The doors were locked, a “bitumen pipeline” blocked the stairs and posters were pasted. The action is in response to McElhanney’s participation in surveying for the Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion project in Burnaby .

“The proposal aims to increase the number of barrels of Alberta bitumen delivered to Burnaby and the Salish Sea from 300,000 barrels a day to 890,000 a day. This would result in an astronomical and dangerous increase in tanker traffic through the Burrard Inlet. The expansion crosses the unceded territory of many Indigenous nations and is evidence of continued oppressive colonization and rampant capitalist greed. Resistance to this project is strong and unwavering!

“The Secwepemc Women Warrior Society has been vocally opposed to the projects’ intrusion through the heart of their territory, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation has launched a legal battle as well as created a treaty with surrounding nations vowing to protect the Salish Sea, even local mayors are standing up in opposition. Despite the resounding no from affected communities, Kinder Morgan is continuing with the project and hiring companies to do invasive studies that are against Coast Salish law and even “Canadian” colonial bylaws. No means no and the people, led by Indigenous resistance are not backing down to corporations!

“This disruption has been brought to you by a group of friends who refuse to accept, and are committed to resisting, the continued colonization of indigenous territories by corporations and government. We oppose the oppressive nature of the oil and gas industry in our fight for climate and social justice. We stand in solidarity with frontline communities who are fighting destructive and oppressive resource extraction projects.”

The office entrance has now been blocked off by Vancouver police.