Contractors moved in in force on Monday (14 January) to evict the “Three Oaks” camp near the railway line opp.
Contractors moved in in force on Monday (14 January) to evict the “Three Oaks” camp near the railway line opp. Upper Wilting Farm in Crowhurst (see press release below), and police have told activists that they plan to evict the remaining two camps (“Decoy Pond Wood” and “Base Camp” – see map below) this week.
So if you want to come and help peacefully stop the felling (whether in an arrestable or non-arrestable role): now’s the time! See here for more info re. the Camp.
[Update at 12.30pm: Despite being heavily outnumbered by security and contractors, activists at the "Three Oaks" protest camp were able to delay the felling of the 400-year-old oak by 3-4 hours this morning. Two people were finally evicted from high-up in the oak, and a third person, locked-on near the base, was also removed. No arrests were made, and the trees in question are now being felled.]
Press Release 14 January 2013 Combe Haven Defenders
CHAINSAWS MOVED IN TO FELL 400-YEAR-OLD OAK AT HASTINGS TREE PROTEST
9am, Monday 14 January, Crowhurst: Contractors preparing the way for the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) are believed to be felling a 400-year-old Oak Tree as they evict the “Three Oaks” protest Camp near the railway line opp. Upper Wilting Farm (TN38 8EG) in Crowhurst (see map below).
Police, security, chainsaw operatives, and a digger moved in on the tree-protest Camp (one of three along the route of the BHLR) this morning, shortly after 7am. Despite being heavily outnumbered by police and security, as at 8.30am several activists were in the trees and at least one was locked-on.
According to a recent report in the Guardian: “When the landowner signed the compulsory purchase order for the land at Three Oaks, where a flyover is to be built above the railway, he persuaded the council to spare one tree thought to be 450 years old (not a promise the protesters expect to be kept).” [3]
Two more protest camps (“Decoy Pond Wood Camp” and “Base Camp”) have not yet been evicted.
The BHLR is one of over forty “zombie roads” that were declared dead years ago but have now been resuscitated as part of Britain’s largest road-building programme in 25 years [4].
As part of the ongoing anarchist war for total liberation, we carried out a hit on the Bathampton radio and TV relay station. Fires were set at four points of the structures, and we left undisturbed. As a result of the sabotage, on top of causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage, we regionally shut down all TV channels on Freeview as well as all national analogue and digital radio stations. Additionally it took down Vodaphone and other mobile networks, damaging police communications and other digital services. 80,000 homes and businesses in the area were affected.
The entertainment industry is an important tool to manipulate human behaviour. Without a steady supply of distractions it would be much harder to persuade people that their lives are satisfactory, to convince them to keep going to work or in whatever way to reproduce the system. So to deprive the network of the ability to offer this essential means of escape from chronic modern stress, anxiety, frustration and dissatisfaction is to undermine the smooth running of society, however temporarily.
There are many soft targets and many lo-tech methods available for us malcontents who gladly choose conflict over dispair. This gives rise to the prospect of rebellion with thousands of faces, with infinite reasons to blockade and destroy whatever stands between us and our goals. We want to experience harmony as a living planet, face to face encounter as intimate circles of proud and free-thinking individuals, and a chance to mould an existence filled with wild play and fierce joy. Our first response when faced with today's crushing domination and a subservient society will always be outbreaks of disorder, refusal and beauty.
Our comrades from far and wide who also carry this fight share our thoughts so closely that often their words could be ours. So when they are kidnapped and held far away from us our determination is only further fuelled. Following many actions in Italy the state has unleashed a wave of repression against anarchists and their projects (Operations Ardire, Mangiafuoco, Ixodidae, Thor…), some across borders, accusing some of attacks of the FAI (Informal Anarchist Federation) and raising a trophy for the media-judicial circus: Nicola Gai and Alfredo Cospito, who they claim are FAI / Olga Cell. But if the prosecutors thought for one minute that they had dismantled the group even in Italy with their operations, another cell soon proved them wrong with an attack on the banking system in the capital, followed by grid sabotage in Indonesia, gunshots in Mexico, liberations in Russia, bombing in Greece, mass arson in Argentina, to name but a few. The new anarchist guerrillas laugh in the faces of the powerful because the repression is only throwing petrol on the fires of the open leaderless resistance.
We are on the side of everyone who has burnt stuffy textbooks and taken the offensive to reanimate an anarchy that had turned to dust in so many throats. Any rebel's capture becomes yet another motive to strike, as we have before and will again, as a reminder of the social cost of their imprisonment.
This action carried out eight years to the day since Xosé Tarrio (a dignified prisoner of Spain's FIES isolation units, against which a series of attacks last decade were later claimed by the first generation of the FAI) died in the cells, leaving his blood on the hands of the jailers, courts and cops.
Clearly trying to get the jump on the Link Road’s opponents, contractors started work on the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) proper on Friday 14 December with a move to cut down the trees near Adam’s farm in Crowhurst (“clearance” work like this was not scheduled to begin until next year). The resistance over the next week was sometimes shambolic, always peaceful, and occasionally heroic. Six tree defenders were arrested (2 on Saturday, 4 on Monday), and Day 8 closed with activists camping overnight in the trees near Adam’s farm.
Activists are now calling on people to help them hold the site near Adam’s farm.
What follows is a brief summary of the story so far.
Friday 14 December 2012
Anti-road protestors from Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill were joined by others from Eastbourne, Brighton and London at dawn in the Combe Valley today to stop attempts to begin tree-felling for the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road. On a day of heavy rain and high winds, around 30 protestors successfully prevented any significant work taking place despite the presence in the valley of over 100 security guards, chainsaw operatives and other contractors.
The campaigners initially occupied trees at Adams Farm and successfully blockaded the access track for over 2 hours. The main contractors’ convoy from Sidley arrived en masse at Upper Wilting Farm mid-morning, and they proceeded on foot to attempt tree-cutting near Little Bog Wood. Protestors promptly moved into the woodland to mingle with the workers, making it impossible for any felling to occur.
The contractors then relocated by vehicle to Adams Farm and were again meet by protestors, some still occupying trees and others on the ground. There were lengthy periods of inactivity with the work crews and security seeming unclear what tactics to adopt. On only a few occasions were chainsaws or strimmers started but protestors immediately placed themselves in positions to stop them being used. The contractors and security guards retreated to their vans for lunch and at around 12.30 made a decision to abandon work for the day. Protestors remained on alert in the valley for a further 2 hours to ensure no further attempts were made.
Saturday 15 December 2012
Activists were able to stop some of the trees in Bexhill from being chopped down, though contractors were able to chainsaw quite a large a number there. There were two arrests – one for “aggravated trespass” (now charged and released), the second for not giving their name and address to a police officer (which they have no legal right to demand under most circumstances). No trees were felled at Adam’s farm however, which was also being defended.
Sunday 16 December
Trees continued to be felled in Bexhill at the back of the Leisure Centre (TN39 4HS), despite attempts to defend the trees. Chainsaws and security guards moved-in on trees nr Adam’s Farm with climbers, and one person locked-on to a contractors vehicle, significantly impeding their activities.
Monday 17 December
Tree-felling continued in Bexhill, with four activists occupying the trees in the morning / afternoon. All four were eventually removed from the trees and arrested. They were all released, the last one at 2am the next day! Fellow activists were outside Hastings police station to greet them, and the CHD are now arranging court support for them where appropriate.
Tuesday 18 December 2012
Tree-defenders were in action in Bexhill again where chainsaw-wielding contractors continued to fell trees. They attempted to enter the area but were ejected by security guards. Other sites have been monitored and do not appear to have been attacked yet.
Wednesday 19 December 2012
Work began in Sidley again on Wednesday (19.12.12) as security guards and their ubiquitous Harris fencing crept northwards up the disused railway, giving the chainsaw crews space to do their dirty work unobstructed by the small numbers of protestors present. One early bird protestor dropped by on the way to work and put anti-road posters up all along the hoardings by the A269 bridge.
Tree defenders maintained a presence across the valley, monitoring for signs of activity in the vicinity of Upper Wilting Farm, Adams Farm (where a small number of Environment Agency people were again at work on what’s believed to watercourse maintenance not related to road building), Acton’s Farm and Glover’s Farm. The valley remained just about passable on foot, with about 30 cm of standing water along the footpath in the valley bottom near Adam’s Farm.
Sadly, reconnaissance revealed extensive tree-felling in the copse between Acton’s Farm and Glover’s Farm at map ref TQ748099, about 100m to the left of the footpath as you walk towards Acton’s Farm from Sidley. This work looked like it was done a few days earlier. The contractors cut down around 30 larger trees within the copse but left a screen of surrounding smaller trees to shield their work from view. A few larger trees still remained in the copse on the North side.
Thursday 20 December 2012
Tree defenders were out again in Sidley on Thursday and managed to halt the felling of a number of trees along the disused railway near Glovers bridge. In the early hours two protestors with climbing gear scaled 20ft into an overhanging ash tree and hastily erected a tarpaulin to provide shelter from the rain. Local supporters were also present on the bridge and eventually managed to get chocolates and hot water to the tree-sitters.
The occupied tree and a number of others surrounding it were spared the teeth of the chainsaws, although many significant trees further along the route were felled as the chainsaw gangs and their security detail moved North into the Combe Haven valley. The protestors outlasted the work crews and even managed to rustle up a hot meal at lunch – something the security guard standing on guard nearby for 3 hours in the pouring rain could only envy.
Friday 21 December
The day began with the re-occupation of the trees in Sidley that were successfully defended the previous day. Security and police then made a major move on the trees near Adam’s farm in Crowhurst, felling some near the barns there, and reportedly preventing access along the footpaths.
However, tree defenders were still able to occupy key trees along the line of the old disused railway cutting there, building tree houses. Police tell one of those occupying the trees that they will bring him mince pies if he’s still there in the morning. The day ended with security guards leaving, amid rumors that they may have knocked off now until the New Year, and activists camping out overnight in and around the trees.
Resistance to the road also made the front pages of the three local papers:
Update at 10am, Thursday 20 December: Tree defenders are now high in trees just north of Glover’s Farm Bridge TN39 5AJ, in Bexhill. Security present. Any support appreciated!
Update at 10am, Thursday 20 December: Tree defenders are now high in trees just north of Glover’s Farm Bridge TN39 5AJ, in Bexhill. Security present. Any support appreciated!
Tree-felling is continuing at the Bexhill end (see report from today below), and protestors are encouraged to gather tomorrow, Thursday, from 7am in Sidley TN40 2LH, near Glover’s Farm, to keep peacefully resisting. However tree defenders should also be aware of trees at risk near Adam’s Farm and Decoy Pond in Crowhurst, and hence try and keep a watch throughout the valley. If you want to receive info and action updates through the day tomorrow (Thursday) text us on 07926423033.
Work began in Sidley again today, Wednesday 19th Dec, as security guards and their ubiquitous Harris fencing crept northwards up the disused railway, giving the chainsaw crews space to do their dirty work unobstructed by the small numbers of protestors present.
One early bird protestor dropped by on the way to work and put anti-road posters up all along the hoardings by the A269 bridge.
Tree defenders maintained a presence across the valley, monitoring for signs of activity in the vicinity of Upper Wilting Farm, Adams Farm (where a small number of Environment Agency people were again at work on what’s believed to watercourse maintenance not related to road building), Acton’s Farm and Glover’s Farm. The valley remains just about passable on foot, with about 30 cm of standing water along the footpath in the valley bottom near Adam’s Farm.
Sadly, reconnaissance revealed extensive tree-felling in the copse between Acton’s Farm and Glover’s Farm at map ref TQ748099, about 100m to the left of the footpath as you walk towards Acton’s Farm from Sidley. This work looks like it was done a few days ago. The contractors cut down around 30 larger trees within the copse but left a screen of surrounding smaller trees to shield their work from view. A few larger trees still remain in the copse on the North side.
Trees to be felled Wednesday 19 December in Sidley, Bexhill, starting early nr TN40 2DD. Tree defenders will be going there and also to the disused railway cutting near Adam’s farm in Crowhurst (see maps below). Info: 07926 423 033. Remember to stay calm and peaceful.
Up till now far it’s all been urban trees being felled. From now on they’ll be hitting the countryside proper.
Important note: If you go to either location then please download and read the bust card here and take it with you, whether or not you anticipate being arrested.
The next two maps are downloadable from this web-site.
IF THE GOVERNMENT GETS ITS WAY, ARE WE LIKELY TO SEE MORE ‘MOTHBALLED’ OPENCAST SITES POCK-MARKING OUR COUNTRYSIDE?
THE LOOSE ANTI OPENCAST NETWORK
IF THE GOVERNMENT GETS ITS WAY, ARE WE LIKELY TO SEE MORE ‘MOTHBALLED’ OPENCAST SITES POCK-MARKING OUR COUNTRYSIDE?
LAON PR 2012- 16 1/12/12
The hidden topic so far, in all the discussion about the Energy Bill is what will be its impact on the UK Coal Industry. This is a much shrunken industry, producing around 18m tonnes of coal a year. Last year 59% of that coal was produced by opencast methods. This year, as the deep mining sector continues to suffer from problems and cost pressures are closing mines (on a temporary basis) at Maltby and Aperpergwm and Daw Mill, our largest pit is almost certain to close, domestic coal production is becoming ever more reliant on surface mining – in the July to September quarter, of the 4m tonnes of coal the UK produced, 65% now came from surface mines.
But even the surface mine sector of the coal industry is not immune to the cold winds of economic realism coming from across the Atlantic, as US coal producers, desperate to find a market for their coal now that it can no longer compete with gas in the US domestic market because of the ‘fracking revolution’, send shiploads of coal to Europe at prices that make UK coal production uncompetitive. As a consequence, ATH Resources, a major surface mine operator has put itself up for sale and stopped development work on its new sites and Scottish Coal has asked its workforce to take a 10% pay cut and mothballed its large Blair House opencast site in Scotland indefinably. It’s just left it as large hole.
Furthermore, the Energy Bill, introduced into Parliament this week is intending to create a low carbon generating system which is design to squeeze out coal from being part of the fuel mix unless Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) prove itself to be commercially viable. The Bill will provide for financial disincentives to make it more costly to burn coal in power stations without CCS, whilst, at the same time, provide financial incentives for existing coal fired power stations to be fully converted to burn biomass. The result is that Coal Operators in the UK are for the foreseeable future likely to see their market for coal shrinking dramatically.
All that may sound good to you, if you worry about protecting the countryside from being treated as one large coal bunker, or you are concerned about climate change.
Except it is not all good news. The expected decline in the use of coal for power generation purposes is going to take years to achieve. In the meantime, we may be starting to witness an increase in planning applications for new opencast mines across the UK, as Coal Operators realise that they must try to cash in on the investments they have already made before the coal market dries up.
This month LAON can report, in its 7th Review of Opencast Sites available here:
that two new proposals have been made recently, one for a new 10m tonne site called Cauldhall, near Rosewell in Midlothian (ironically by Scottish Coal) and the other at the Deanfield site for 1.18m tonnes at Sharleston near Wakefield, where UK Coal, another coal company which nearly went into administration this year, intends to surface mine. As a consequence, The Stop Opencast in Sharlston (SOS) group has joined the Network
That is not the only bad news about the surface mining of coal in England. The Government is proposing, through the Growth and Infrastructure Bill (Clause 21), to make it easier to dig up coal in England, just when they are planning to reduce the role coal plays in producing electricity through the Energy Bill. This clause of the Bill is likely to be debated by the Growth and Infrastructure Public Bill Committee, along with our evidence, on Tuesday 4th December.
LAON’s concern about these policy changes is this. Given the economic difficulties that the UK Coal Industry finds itself in, is this the right time to be changing the planning system to make it easier for Coal Operators to get permission for new opencast mines? This is increasing the risk that many more opencast sites are left ‘mothballed’ and pock-marking our country-side if UK Coal Producers find that they are increasingly priced out of their own declining domestic market. In our view, this is not the time to relax planning controls at all for new surface mines in England
We are hoping that the Government realises the inconsistencies in its current policy proposals and whilst it continues with its plans to decarbonise the generating sector, it revises its plans and not allow any plans to surface mine coal in England to be treated as a Major Infrastructure Project.
A referenced version of this press release is available by contacting LAON at the email address below.
About LAON
The Loose Anti-Opencast Network (LAON) has been in existence since 2009. It functions as a medium through which to oppose open cast mine applications. At present LAON links individuals and groups in N Ireland (Just Say No to Lignite), Scotland (Coal Action Scotland), Wales (Green Valleys Alliance, The Merthyr Tydfil Anti Opencast Campaign), England, (Coal Action Network), Northumberland, (Whittonstall Action Group, Halton Lea Gate Residents)) Co Durham (Pont Valley Network), Leeds, Sheffield (Cowley Residents Action Group), Kirklees, (Skelmansthorpe Action Group) Nottinghamshire (Shortwood Farm Opencast Opposition), Derbyshire (West Hallum Environment Group, Smalley Action Group and Hilltop Action Group) , Leicestershire (Minorca Opencast Protest Group), Wakefield (Stop Opencast in Sharlston) and Walsall (Alumwell Action Group).
At 6am this morning 10 protestors blockaded access to EDF energy's nuclear sites at Hinkley Point, preventing the morning shift from starting work. 4 people in arm locks formed a barrier across the main access road at Wick Moor Drove in a bid to prevent further ground clearance work at the planned Hinkley C site and to protest at EDF's plan to extend the life of aging reactors at the Hinkley B station.
Sitting beneath a banner saying "Nuclear Power – not worth the risk" Bristol tree-surgeon Zoe Smith said, "We want the destruction of land at the proposed Hinkley C site to stop. EDF still don't have planning permission for the new nuclear plant, the governments energy policy is in tatters. With Centrica pulling out and the long awaited Electricity Reform Act delayed, there is not even enough investment to finish the project. If the tories fix the electricity price for nuclear so that the project can go ahead it will leave a radioactive waste dump here for hundreds of years." The early morning blockade caused long tailbacks for scores of workers contracted in to perform maintenance work on the the existing reactors at Hinkley B, EDF have signalled their intention to re-licence the reactor again in 2016.
Bridgwater mum Nikki Clark from South West Against Nuclear said, "Not only do we not need new nuclear, we certainly don't need to extend the life of the existing reactors even further. Just this year alone reactor no 4 in the B station has scrammed at least three times. EDF like to call these emergency shutdowns 'unplanned outages' but this deliberately conceals the fact that these ageing reactors are now in a dangerous condition. In 2008 the regulators threatened British Energy with closure of the site. The reactors do not have any fewer cracks in the graphite core now than they did then. Do we have to have our own Fukushimahere in Somersetbefore we abandon this insanity and embrace a renewables revolution in the UK?"
Stop Hinkley spokesperson Theo Simon said, "We support this protest. New nuclear is dead in the water. We need public investment in a renewables revolution which could create a million climate jobs and cut energy bills through a programme of home insulation and energy-efficiency. With it's massive marine energy resource, West Somersetis perfectly placed to lead the way in renewables, but EDF's plans would turn it into a toxic waste dump for our grandchildren."
Via South West Against Nuclear Protestors are blocking the road outside Hinkley Point TODAY Friday, 23 November, 2012, 7:52
Protestors are blocking the road outside Hinkley Point TODAY stopping the workers entering the site. Listen to BBC Somerset report 7.40am. Pass on the word those who want to take a flask of coffee to them, greatly received.
A weekend get-together for people involved in ecological direct action, from fighting opencast coal, fracking, GM, nuclear power to road building. There’ll be discussions and campaign planning – with the emphasis on the tactics and strategies we use, community solidarity and sustainable activism.
A weekend get-together for people involved in ecological direct action, from fighting opencast coal, fracking, GM, nuclear power to road building. There’ll be discussions and campaign planning – with the emphasis on the tactics and strategies we use, community solidarity and sustainable activism. This year we’ll be in Lancashire…
Update: full transport details and programme at link below.
last night fire erupted in the tranquillity of bristols well-to-do redland area, targeting a marked vehicle of Standfast Ltd.
last night fire erupted in the tranquillity of bristols well-to-do redland area, targeting a marked vehicle of Standfast Ltd. besides the usual functions that led us to attack a company invested in "security" (as always, securing the sanctity of private property in mass society) one of their many cctv contracts in bristol, bath, avon, somerset and gloucestershire is both state and private schools, where as you can read in the newspapers even the toilets are no escape from the cameras. daily submission under impersonal institutions rarely comes naturally. after the nuclear family, the education system at all stages is instrumental in adapting the free child to the civilized world of workplaces, malls and (other) prisons that todays youth are destined for. constant surveillance has proven a most effective step in this domesticating process, kids learning to selfregulate under the assumption that they're permanently being watched, and this has been made to seem normal by reality tv, the saturation of control technology in the dead synthetic urban enviroment (supplied by the likes of Standfast Ltd.), and the atomised crowd of a generation filled with selfish fear of punishment or repremand.
but it is often still the young people who are least destroyed by this onslaught and who still find themselves impelled to refuse the system (like the riots last summer and scattered moments of revolt everyday since and before). this is just a reminder – WHEN YOU HIT A LENS IT WILL BREAK LIKE ANYTHING ELSE! so shouts to youth rebellion against society, the claimants of the recent attack on security vehicles in nottingham, and everyone else committed to the timeless crime of freedom! strength for Gustavo Quiroga, held in immigration detention after the Delta squat eviction in Thessaloniki, and for the Gremlin Alley resisters in cardiff! strength for the anarchists non-cooperating with the grand jury in the american northwest, and for the ones who fled from it! strength for the street fighters held for the march29 battles in Barcelona, and Carolina whos accused of burning a Starbucks that inspiring day!
anarchy here, now and always — yours in war, counter-surveillance cores.
At least eight protesters have been arrested during a mass trespass at the Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset.
More than 50 people swooped on the perimeter fence of the land earmarked for two new EPR mega-reactors next to the existing power plant just after dawn.
8 October 2012
At least eight protesters have been arrested during a mass trespass at the Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset.
More than 50 people swooped on the perimeter fence of the land earmarked for two new EPR mega-reactors next to the existing power plant just after dawn.
Dozens fanned out around the 5-miles long fence while others held banners and placards outside the main security gate. A 14-foot banner reading, “Nuclear disaster zone. Boycott EDF” was hung across the gate.
At 11am a total of 577 seed balls were thrown over the fence onto the construction area in a symbolic attempt to repair the damage already caused to the land. The seed balls represent the number of days since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.
Around 10 people are known to be still on the land owned by EDF Energy. Many others are expected to join them later on today.
The mood has been relaxed and celebratory. “This is a major victory for the anti-nuclear movement,” said Camilla Berens, spokesperson for the Stop New Nuclear Alliance. ‘Because the government has refused to listen to us and we have been forced to raise the game. We have successfully blockaded the main entrance to Hinkley Point on two occasion in the last year and now we have accomplished a mass trespass. Our message today is that we will continue to raise the game with peaceful protest until our voice in heard.”
