road protests 1997
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Date: Sat, 05 Jul 1997 13:47:55 +0100
From: Earth First
To: roadalert@gn.apc.org
Subject: Action Update - June email edition
AIRPORT EVICTIONS TAKE OFF
After a long hard winter in Devon and the rapid, violent evictions of
Allercombe and Trollheim it looked like Babylon had caught up and many
people predicted the end of onsite campaigning. Now it's all different:
undersheriffs everywhere are wondering who's next; Surrey County Council
couldn't afford to fight in Guilford; and Manchester Airport is counting the
cost of another mammoth eviction. There the baddies made the same mistakes
all over again with the security costometer spinning outta control.
The vindication of tunnels and the press attention at Fairmile brought
confidence, publicity, new people and energy to the campaign against a
second runway at Manchester Airport. Underground the much hyped "men in
black" had their high tech operation reduced to hammer and chisels for most
of the time and so are learning to appreciate how much work goes into
defending the earth.
The eviction finally began in mid May at Zion Tree where tree dwellers led
the first line of defence whilst the tunnellers held out for almost a week.
Undersheriff Randall Hibbert managed to get his PR operation off to an
appalling start as the first person out of the first tunnel in the eviction
had been sprayed with what the bailiffs said was CS gas (though in reality
it was water). To complete the blunder a journalist was truncheoned on the
head when dragged from a bender despite making it clear that he was not going
to resist. The media reaction to the violence set the agenda for the rest
of the eviction - identifying the protesters as the 'good guys' although it's still difficult
getting away from the lifestyle focus.
The fence constructed around the camps before the eviction meant that once
the undersheriff appeared on the scene security levels were not necessarily
stepped up though the several complete deconstructions of the fence, with
security collaboration, was probably about the same cost. This cooperation
meant that protesters were still able to gain access to the site even when
the fence was up; many of the security were quite blatant about their support
and acknowledged that they were 'doing a job' but no more. If this meant
turning a blind eye to avoid confrontation then they were often prepared to
do so. When the undersheriff foolishly banned the delivery of food and water
to camps still awaiting eviction (a decision reversed after three hours in
the face of protester and media outcry) the bailiffs pooled their lunches
and delivered the food to one camp declaring that they disagreed with the
dictat.
The eviction is now in its fourth week - the undersheriff having taken on
one camp at a time and the tunnellers doing an excellent job at restricting
the use of cherry pickers on site and ensuring that the eviction process
lasted a significant time. Manchester Airport saw not only a strategic and
effective use of underground burying but also a successful experiment with a
'scab-proof platform' on a treehouse. The four-storey construction, the
Battlestar Galactica, managed to withstand four days of onslaught from the
sheriff and his men and an increasingly infuriated Richard Turner and was
eventually only defeated when a crane was brought on site.
What Newbury did for the south, Manchester Airport did for the north in
terms of attracting thousands of new people and cementing the network for a
sunny summer of actions. Aviation is firmly on the agenda and for more
people than ever before it's clear that it ain't just about cars.
Regular Sunday Fundays in the lead up to the evictions brought hundreds of
locals on site and their support was phenomenal. These so called green
wellied 'nimbies' and the equally mythical 'ecowarriors' ignored the
marginalising definitions and worked together on the vision of real progress.
On going to press there's still one person down the Cakehole tunnel and
there is still potential for visits to AMEC, TARMAC, Randell the Vandal and
other greasy palms. The latest media guestimate has the costometer flashing
like mad at Six Million Pounds and rising. Well done to everyone who came to
cost, a bigger chunk of the population is thinking about sustainability with
a whole bunch of them now prepared to fight for it.
Airport Support
On the same morning that Undersheriff Randalf Hibbert began an attempt to
evict Flywood, the longest standing camp at the Manchester Airport protest
site, his staff back in their elegant Chester offices must have thought they
were far from the scene of the action.
Activists however didn't want them to miss out and took the protest straight
back to Hibbert's offices. They managed to outwit two security guards, and
gain entry to demand a meeting with the Undersheriff to discuss his refusal
to allow independent legal observers access to the protest site. One
activist locked onto a radiator, others inspected offices and made urgent
phone calls and several more found their way onto the roof. Most of the staff
seemed happy to have an early coffee break and a chat about the issues but
two security guards (no doubt feeling a bit silly) kept wanting to try out
armlocks on people and had to be scolded by police.
Eventually activists agreed to a chat by telephone instead of a meeting in
person with Randy Hippy, as the Undersheriff has come to be known. He
denied the need for legal observers, claiming that the eviction had been
safe and gentle and refused to come to his office, claiming to be busy
elsewhere.
Activists left after two hours, waving goodbye to the many police now
occupying the garden. One person thinks she was arrested for breach of the
peace - or maybe using the phone - but she's not sure...
road protests 1997
| road protests (current)
| movement links