SchNEWS the free weekly direct action news sheet covering social and environmental issues in the UK and abroad including climate change, arms industry, ecological direct action and more... On The Verge - The Smash EDO Campaign Film - made by SchMOVIES - is out!
Subscribe to receive SchNEWS erery week by email View all of our back issues Find out about the history of SchNEWS and how it's put together every week Search for contacts and links of protest and community groups in UK and abroad A selection of How To guides for direct action andother fun stuff Previous articles and hot topics SchMOVIES
Copyleft - Information for direct action - Published weekly in Brighton since 1994

Home | Friday 31st October 2008 | Issue 653

Back to the Full Issue

SHIPLEY SHAPE

Protests against the Shipley open-cast coal mine continued this Monday (27th) as protesters and the weather combined forces to halt the first stages of coal excavation. The morning’s digging was late starting due to rain, and Earth First! activists took over at 1pm for three hours of interruption. The digger drivers themselves were said to be glad of the extended break as UK Coal likes them to do eleven-and-a-half hour shifts with minimal rest times.

Apparently the police vehicle couldn’t get across the mud at the site so they hitched a ride with UK Coal workers. Once there, they were more interested in getting protesters’ details and photos than making arrests, quoting the ‘Aggravated Trespass’ section 68 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act - meaning that protesters risk arrest if they return within three months.

Also on Monday, one of the protesters arrested when Bodge House was evicted in August (see SchNEWS 643) had their charges of Aggravated Trespass thrown out of court. The site was squatted for two months – with tunnels and a tower made of scaffold, in protest against the proposed open-cast coal mine. The judge at Derby Youth Court said that the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to support its case.

* For more see www.leaveitintheground.org.uk



 

Subscribe to SchNEWS: Send 1st Class stamps (e.g. 10 for next 9 issues) or donations (payable to Justice?). Or £15 for a year's subscription, or the SchNEWS supporter's rate, £1 a week. Ask for "originals" if you plan to copy and distribute. SchNEWS is post-free to prisoners.