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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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