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Annual 1998 | Direct
Action Roundup 1997
WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IF
YOU'VE BEEN ASLEEP ALL YEAR, THIS IS WHAT WENT DOWN
Direct Action Highlights
Of 1997
This diary is not
a comprehensive list of every event that's taken place this year.
to do that would take a whole book in itself. so many apologies
to the people and campaigns we could not include
December 96
1
10th the old courthouse in Brighton is re-squatted
for a Direct Action Conference. Police enter illegally and
lay siege for seven hours to three activists who take refuge on
window ledge.
2
18th Funeral of Alex Balchin "squatter extraordinaire",
who fell from the roof of the old GLC building.
January 97
3
6th Asylum seekers in Rochester begin hunger strike.
also animal rights activist Barry Horne who is now serving
18 years
4
8th Reading Roadbusters visit then 'secretary of state for
transport, George Young', and build a road through his garden in
protest at Newbury.
5
9-11th Newbury rampage re-union, a week long action
during which breezes blow down security fences and diggers spontaneously
combust.
6
10th The garden gnome liberation front release gnomes
back into the wild.
7
12th Trolheim at Fairmile evicted / also the third
annual direct action conference in Brighton
8
20th The fifteen month old Liverpool Dockers strike
is supported in a one day strike by Dockers around the world. Liverpool
Dockers themselves occupy a crane for 27 hours / permission for
Manchester runway given, camping shops nationally report
massive sales of trenching tools.
9
24th Seventy textile worker occupy factory for weeks
10
31st Last protester voluntarily leaves tunnel at Fairmile
after 7 days underground making it the longest eviction attempt
so far.
 
February
11
1st First Newbury protester jailed
12
9th Nationwide anti-hunt demos
13
14th After 55 days strikers in Glasgow win negotiations
14
15th Fifth month of strike action at Magnet Kitchens
in Darlington
15
18th Earth First! stop work at Brynhenllys
opencast mine. Local hospital set aside a ward after police
believe a refinery may be torched.
16
21st Mass occupation of Grand Met, the engineers
of workforce / Two old ladies stage an outdoor armchair protest
in Oxford and force Oxford Council to dismantle a security fence
17
26th 60 people stop a nuke warhead convoy in Newcastle.
Police quote 'you caught us with our pants down'
March
18
5ish The A1(M) first privately funded road completed
19
20
7th Justice? print plea for more mail-outcrew [again]
21
13th Claimants in Edinburgh occupy dole office in Workfare
protest
22
15th Peace campaigner Lindis Percy released by judge who
describes strip search as 'gratuitous sadism'
23
18th Rev J Papworth advocates shoplifting
24
21st Government pass bill allowing police to close any
club where they just suspect drugtaking
25
22nd 14 sound systems party in the ex-MI5 building,
London
26
26th The Royal Geographical Society refuse to take shell
funding / Swampy denies having a girlfriend
27
27th Camps set up at Lyminge Forest to stop Ranks'
Center Parcs style destruction of ancient woodland
28
29th Bristol 'The Land Is Ours' reclaim 'disputed ownership'
land and create the Easter Gardens Community Space
April
29
1st Exodus Collective win high court appeal to stay at Long
Meadow farm Luton this is the 53rd police led harassment case
against them / Allen Stewart the Tory MP who attacked Pollok
road protesters is sectioned under the Mental Health Act
30
11th Activists occupy a SSSI site after a farmer tries to plough
it up. a week later the D.O.E. place a Preservation Order
31
12th RTS ravers, misbehavers and other assorted motley crew take
over Trafalgar Square. A police officer complains "move back
you're making my officers vulnerable" shame!
32
17th 'Hull on Earth' occupy urban derelict land
33
19th Reclaim The Streets in Colchester
34
20th 500 protesters besiege 'Consort' who breed beagles for
vivisection in Herefordshire. police use CS gas
35
20th 50 protesters occupy the officers of genetic modifiers
'Monsanto' in High Wycombe36 23rd Howard Marks
hands out free 'medicinal' marijuana outside the dept of health
in London
May
37
2nd The residents of Holtsfield in S. Wales win
case against feudal landlord who was trying to evict them from the
homes they own on the land he owns
38
3rd Reclaim The Streets in Hull
39
16ish Protesters camped at Stringers Common, Guildford celebrate
when local county council abandon road scheme due to lack of money
40
17th Reclaim The Streets in Sheffield police complain, "next
time your people come to Sheffield you would benefit from discussing
with us beforehand, we could help you choose a street that would
suit you better"
41
31st Reclaim The Streets in York
June
42
8th Spontaneous action takes place by Strawberry Fair goers
who hold a cricket match in a genetically altered potato field near
Cambridge
43
12th The 68 inhabitants of the Isle of Eigg in Scotland buy
the 15 land from the oppressive feudal landlord who dictated everything
from who could buy their homes to what flowers they could plant
44
19th The Mc Libel two lose on technicalities but judge agrees
that only one or two minor facts on the flyer were untrue
45
21st Reclaim The Streets in Bristol, desert storm lose their
sound system to violent cops
46
25-8th Ground Swell hold a day conference in Sheffield on
housing, bringing together groups such as the homeless, self builders
July
47
8-13th Earth First UK gathering at the Talamh housing co-op.
Lanarkshire, Scotland attended by over 500 people. Police disguised
as dustman try to gain access to site
48
24th Lambeth Council try to evict the 16 year old info
centre squat "121" in Brixton. The judge halts the case after
5 mins asking "precisely what is the case you're bringing?" Council
should have stated the occupation was illegal, case abandoned! bless
em
August
49
4th First ever Irish treetop road camp set up at the Glen of
the Downs. North Wicklow
50
7th Campaigners occupy the offices of Chevron - the company
who want to fill Cardigan Bay in Wales with oil rigs. After
lots of office data adjustment chevron announce they will be delaying
any decision until 1998
51
8th Activist around the country organise "Boing"
a national car bounce of vehicles illegally parked
52
11th Scotland's first Reclaim The Streets in Edinburgh coincides
with the first day of the festival, oops! fnar. fnar
53
20th Demonstration by asylum seekers held prisoner at Campsfield
Detention Centre at Oxford, violent police portray the protest
at conditions as "a riot"
September
54 Labour Conference
Brighton
Anti-hunt activists
infiltrate a fringe meeting held by BASC (the shooters association),
chaos ensues and the wannabe cowboys discover all their wine has
disappeared before the police arrive
55
1st Anti-arms trade campaigners CAAT demonstrate at the Arms
Trade 'Fair', Farnborough resulting in the biggest mass arrest
since the poll tax riots
56
14th 300 demonstrate at Shamrock Farm breeders of chimps
for experimentation
57
20-1st Mass trespass and occupation at Wychwood Forest,
Oxford over a barred public right of way. the landowner is visited
for a cup of tea but refuses to share his teabags
58
28th The Gaelic Earth Liberation Front destroy the first
genetic crop to be grown in Ireland, also 300 demonstrate at Hillgrove
Farm cat breeders for experiment
October
59
11th Global day of McDonalds actions
60
12ish Protesters comb the roof and banner drop D.O.E. in London
and persuade them to order a public enquiry into a quarry extension
at Teigngrace in Devon
61
19th Pixies perform creative DIY and a spot of panting and decorating
at Faslane nuclear base
62
31st The Doe Hill house opencast quarry at Chesterfield,
Derbyshire is closed down due to every item of equipment mysteriously
self destructing in the space of half an hour, workers on site laugh
their heads off as even the lighting rigs decide to jump off the
cliffs
November
63
1st Reclaim The Streets in Oxford is timed to happen at the
same time as RTS's in Berlin and Sydney Australia the latter
attracting 3,000 people / protesters pay mother visit to cat butcherers
Hillgrove Farm at Witney in Oxon
64
14th The three editors of Green Anarchist are sentenced to
three years each for "conspiracy to incite criminal damage". This
follows a simple article on direct action
65
15th Trying to stir up racial hatred against Romanian gypsies
in Dover, 70 National Front are put to flight by 400 Anti-Fascists
66
29th Cross dressed hunt sabs freak out a Hertfordshire
hunt with their cocktail dresses and 'lipstick chic'
December
British farmers blockade
ports for weeks in livelihood protest
67
16th Over 550 affluent residents of Kingston Upon
Thames join up with activists and force the council to abandon
tree felling
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