Home | 5th May 1995 | Issue 21 | PDF

Justice? Brighton's Campaign in Defiance of the Criminal Injustice Act

SchNEWS

CJA ARRESTOMETER
Hunt Sabs 148
Footie Fans 44
Road Protestors 18
Travellers 11
Tree Defenders 11
Environmentalists 6
No Live Exports 3
Fascist Printers 2
Peace Campaigners 1
* at least 500 arrested under the 1986 Public Order Act this year

SHAME!

AS BAILIFFS ATTACK VILLAGE IN THE SKYEYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS FROM OUR PEOPLE 60 FEET UP A TREE

"I have seen many beautiful places get trashed in the name of progress, and I have tried to force myself not to be gutted, but you never get used to the sickening crunching sound that you hear when the trees crash to the ground."

Mayday, Mayday and hundreds of police, bailiffs and security guards moved in to evict 'the village in the sky', as Stanworth Valley in Lancashire became the latest battleground for the anti-roads movement.

The heavily wooded valley carpeted in bluebells with the smell of wild garlic strong in the air is home to birds such as Tawny Owls and Goldcrests. But it lies in the path of the M65 which is being built to link East Lancashire to the motorway network.

As SchNEWS went to press, it was apparent that the (Under) sheriff and his men were becoming increasingly frustrated about the slowness in evicting the tree-people. As time goes by they are taking more and more risks endangering themselves and protesters.

"It's mental, absolutely mental. The sheriff is a liar and he is putting peoples lives at risk. The bailiffs don't know what they're doing. One tree was felled three foot from a tree-house, another branch hit an occupied treehouse. One aerial walk-way was cut with someone still on who managed to scramble off."

It looks set to the longest eviction in post-war Europe, piling up the cost and showing the authorities that they cannot expect to destroy our countryside without determined opposition.

SECURITY COSTS
* Security £25,000 per day
* Police £100,000 this week

M65 LATEST

EVICTION CONTINUES - MORE PEOPLE NEEDED UP THERE NOW.
Press barred from protest site - BBC hire helicopter to film protest. People occupy Under Sheriffs office demanding press allowed back in & an end to heavy-handedness of bailiffs. At one point Group 4 - not bailiffs evict people - fire bomb thrown by G4.

Anti-union laws to be used a against protestors.

Arrests: 41

ENVIRONMENTALISTS FALL FOUL OF CJA

Six people were nicked for aggravated trespass at a Greenpeace demo at Sellafield, including five Belgiums on top of a roof.At a later vigil held by the Shut Sellafield Campaign another was arrested under the same charges. Section 68 of the Criminal Justice Act (CIA) makes trespass an imprisonable offence carrying fines of up to £3,000 or a three month sentence.

They've were all given bail conditions threatening them with arrest if they go anywhere near the lovely nuclear plant (guilty till proven innocent?) - this has outraged campaigners who are only just coming across the draconian bail conditions the police now impose, but comes as no surprise to road and no live animal export protesters. Just more tactics to keep us out of the way.

KEEP JULY 7th FREE

The weather improves and people start to think of the summer and festivals . Alas, gone are the days of the free festival circuit, when as one event broke up, the next gathering beckoned. Over the years they've been stamped on by the authorities culminating in the freedom-lovers nightmare: The Criminal Justice Act, with powers that can disrupt virtually every stage of a festival goers movement and potentially make life on the road, a hell on wheels.

So. getting enough people together in one place, in a short space of time and making it a major headache for the police to stop will probably take a great deal of effort, so the plan is to go for one biggie on 7^th July. Keep this date free and pass it on.

*** Free party organisers should contact Small World who are looking to do a film on the subject 0171 272 5255

INSIDE SchNEWS

Jim Chambers still on remand for alleged criminal damage to a road construction site PV2504, HMP Pentonville Prison, Caledonian Rd, London N7 8TT.

John Livingstone, arrested at the No M77 Pollok Free State in Glasgow.

Tracey Hart, on remand for trumped up charges of criminal damage to perimeter fence of Menwith Hill Spy Base in Yorkshire. Low Newton Women's Prison, Brasside, DH1 5SD.

Chris Cole is inside for six months for breaking an injunction against British Aerospace including writing a "Call for

Action" for a trespass at the company PB0538, HMP Pentonville, Caledonian Rd., London, N7 8TT

VigilantEs Day

It's often said that the history of a war is written by its victors and this is as true of World War II as it is of any other. Indeed this government seems to be going even further, trying to revive the 'Spirit of the Blitz' as salve for a failing government, trying to ferment a wave of patriotism and manipulating the celebrations to glorify itself, though the idea of John Major as the next Winston Churchill doesn't quite fit. What gets left out in this, as in all 'official' versions of history is the experience of ordinary people which often tells an entirely different story.

One such story is the story of the Vigilantes' otherwise known as the 'Secret Committee of ex -Servicemen' founded in Brighton after the end of the first world war to combat the Homelessness faced by ex-soldiers on their return home. They revived themselves soon after VE Day and started taking over empty houses in Brighton to house the wives and families of returning servicemen and became the start of a massive squatting campaign that spread across the country.

The Vigilantes were determined that the soldiers who returned from the war would not face the raw deal they were given after returning from the first when they had faced homelessness and mass unemployment.

The Vigilantes were led by a figure known as 'the Guv'nor' a local chimney sweep called Harry Cowley, a veteran of local anti-fascist struggles and champion of the unemployed. They started with about 40 members and began working to find empty houses. Their first action was the squatting of a house in Roundhill Crescent on the 29th of June, 1945 where they housed a homeless sailor's wife and her two children. They soon struck again seizing a long empty house in Freshfield road. On Sunday, 8 July they held an open air meeting on the Level which attracted several hundred people. By this stage they already had 400 members. Two days later members went up to a meeting in London where a similar organisation was being formed, as well as in Clacton, Hove, Worthing, and elsewhere.

The Vigilantes actions were tremendously popular and their campaign continued apace. There was widespread sympathetic and detailed press coverage of the movement and they became a real threat to the (Churchill)government one of whose last acts was to give local councils the power to requisition all empty property- one of the principal demands of the Vigilantes. They did not rest at this however. At the end of July Harry Cowley told an open air meeting "Our job is not done, this is only the beginning. We shall organise on a national basis and fight any form of injustice and social anomaly which is brought to our notice".

From its beginnings in Brighton the movement spread, disused Army camps were squatted up and down the country and the movement culminated in a series of high profile occupations of empty luxury hotels in London.

Despite massive popular support and the fact that it housed thousands this movement is largely unremembered today and certainly will not be remembered in official commemorations. Yet its story needs to be told, both to ensure that ordinary peoples stories are not forgotten and to provide with inspiration, and a sense of history today.

SchNEWS IN BRIEF

The Erogenous Tribe have gone DiY and taken over the previously empty Community Tree arid Shrub Nurseries in Birmingham. The gardens are already in much better shape and local people are getting involved in planting and ACTING for a sustainable future. Go and see for yourself! The Tribe are also putting together a comic and are looking for visuals and articles 012144955452

*** CONVICTION is the newsletter helping fight for prisoners inside for crimes they have not committed. Subscribe £5/£3 unwaged for four issues a year PO Box 522, Sheffield, S1 3FF

*** DNA samples were taken from hundreds of suspected burglars on Wednesday in one of the biggest police operations ever mounted. The dawn raids on more than 1,500 homes throughout southern England and Wales marked the first mass use of new powers that allow police to take "genetic fingerprints" from suspects. Police hope to have about 135,000 tests on computer at a cost of £5 million in the first year alone, and extend it to all recordable offences by the end of the century.

*** Friends and Families of Travellers have been busy as the Criminal Justice Act eviction merry-go-round picks up full steam and places to park up become fewer and fewer.

*** CROWBOROUGH East Sussex. Travellers who went to the High Court to challenge a councils decision to evict them under the Criminal Justice Act have won a stay of execution. The travellers managed to argue that the council was failing its duty under the Children's Act. Contact Public Law Group 0171 436 0964

*** TEMPLECOMBE, SOMERSET Some travellers including a heavily pregnant women have been allowed to stay on a travellers site in Somerset. This is a long used site that is self-evicting due to flooding in the winter. The top end has been occupied by a family of traditional gypsies for some years. However, the site swelled in size due to a mass CJA eviction of 50 vehicles in Semley, Wiltshire at the of April, and the arrival of a circus group who had been moved on three times in the previous 24 hours!

*** GLASTONBURY A small group of travellers who had been given permission by Somerset Council to stay on a site but left after being threatened by local farmers, again came up against a farmer who threatened to drag their vehicles off using tractors. He said the presence of a two week old baby was no concern of his!

*** DORSET Another small travelling group (with six children) some of whom work locally in the construction industry were locked in a site by a farmer and told their homes would be forcibly removed in the morning. The farmer eventually unlocked the gate and the travellers moved off peacefully. Just where are these people meant to go. Vanish into thin air? Friends and Families of Travellers 01458 832 371

*** The International Traders Ferry (ITF) - the people who run the live animal export trade at Shoreham - are taking East Sussex police to court. The police say they can't afford to be at Shoreham more than four days a fortnight and last Friday turned back a lorry because of possible trouble at the port. This was a staged operation by ITF who videoed the operation and will show it in court to argue their case the police acted illegally in stopping 'a legal, lawful trade' (sic) 01273 720 401

*** The Velvet Mushroom Cafe, Cardiff's squatted cafe has been given till the 12th May to vacate the premises 01222 343 066

e-SchNEWS
pHreak BBS - 0171 434 3800
Web. http://www.mistral.co.uk/cbuzz
Or email address below to be on e-mailout

Party and Protest

SAT 6th Oxford Anarchist Bookfare. East Oxford Community Centre, Princes St., Cowley Rd,

SAT 6th Congress of the Netwoiks. Gathering at Exodus Collective in Luton sharing info about Agenda 21 01582 508 936

MON 8th Beacon Fire and tree-dressing day Whitstable, Kent as a symbolic act to Kent County Councils plans to carve a 12km road costing £65 million thru' the Kent countryside. People/tools/supplies URGENTLY needed to occupy trees, houses and air raid shelter along the route! 01635 521770

WED 10th Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ) AGM info + shares from PARTOZANS 0171 700 6189 (RTZ are the biggest mining company in the world and complete bastards. They would just love to see you)

THUR 11th Women's Beltane Walk. Info. Greenham Common womens peace camp 01374 136 728 (8-9:30pm only)

THUR 11th AMEY AGM 01374 953160 (AMEY are the destroyers of Solsbury Hill, Bath)

FRI 12-14th Anti CJA DIY conference somewhere in Manchester including Liberty legal briefing about CJA on the Saturday. 0171 738 6721

SUN 14th Reclaim The Streets street party! 0171 254 2290

Fri 19th-21st Duneichan Free Festival, East coast of Scotland. Info SAE Andy c/o Invergarry PO, Invergarry, Invernesshire.

THUR 18th SHELL AGM London Earth First! 0171 254 2290

THUR 18th Glasgow anti-car/road action 0141 946 2700

FRI 19th - 28h Amazon Festival Menwith Hill Womens Peace Camp. Women only. 0585 329 313

SUN 21st Mass trespass somewhere near Lewes, East Sussex 01273 685913

and Finally

SchNEWS will be at Glastonbury producing an on-site newspaper this year - any info for the issue or leaflets to be distributed send to the SchNEWS address ASAP!We were hoping to get press passes etc but press officer told us "the local Glastonbury paper is doing the same kind of thing" - somehow we doubt it! He added "the Times is more important because it is read by the middle classes and we need to appeal to them"!?! - yeah right!

For further copies of the SchNEWS send stamps/donations (payable to Justice?) SchNEWS c/o on-the-fiddle PO Box 2600 Brighton East Sussex . Tel: (01273) 685913. Or pick one up @ Peace Centre, Gardener St, Brighton and around town e-mail: Justice?@intermedia.co.uk

Justice? meet every wednesday 7pm @ the (71) grand parade squat

SchNEWS, PO Box 2600, Brighton, BN2 0EF, England
Phone/Fax: +44 (0)1273 685913
email: schnews@brighton.co.uk

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