Home | Friday 20th June 2008 | Issue 636

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DEMOLITION DERBY

Anti-coal actions ahead of this year’s Camp for Climate Action at Kingsnorth power station (3rd - 11th August) have been getting all fired up.

Last Tuesday night saw the beginning of a new protest camp in Derbyshire against a proposed open-cast coal mine. Activists descended on a site at Lodger House, near Smalley in the dead of night. Treehouses have been built, and protesters have bunkered down with supplies in the Prospect Farm house, using lock-ons around their necks to prevent forced entry, and set up barricades to prevent police from bringing in specialist equipment down Bell Lane. The land is owned by UK Coal and had already seen a mass trespass of the site on May 26th (See SchNEWS 631).

After being opposed for years by environmental groups and local councils, the Environment Secretary Hilary Benn granted permission in 2007, possibly setting a precedent for other shallow coal deposits to be dug up, this being just one of seven sites UK Coal plan to mine. The 122 hectare site will have 1m tonnes of coal extracted over five years, after which UK Coal claim will be ‘returned back to its natural state’.

This site is 10 miles from Nine Ladies, who are offering tat and no doubt numbers will move to this site, but the camp is calling out for help, tat and people to come and join in.

See www.leaveitintheground.org.uk (Site mob 0750 333 5870)

* There will be a noise demo on July 1th outside UK Coal, near Doncaster. Meet at Doncaster train station at 3.30pm or outside UK Coal at 4pm.

** Just over a week ago, protestors hijacked a train carrying fuel for the Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire. In natty white overalls and canary outfits, activists used safety signals to stop the train on a bridge overlooking the power station, before climbing on board and dumping coal off onto the tracks. They also used climbing ropes to suspend themselves under the bridge to prevent the train from moving for a number of hours until cops got to grips with the situation and made 29 arrests. See www.earthfirst.org.uk

*** For more about the Camp For Climate Action see www.climatecamp.org.uk

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