!!* FAIRORD ACTION REPORT!

London Anarchist Youth | 23.02.2003 16:01

The action as it happens! First report from fairford!

Today's protest at Fairford resulted in around 400 people attempting to charge into the base after the main gate was torn down by an anarchist black bloc. 30-40 then sprinted off into the base through holes cut in the permiter fence while riot cops were mobilised to push people back out of the main entrance which took about 40 mins before it was cleared. Clashes and fights between the Police "Just Doing Their Job" Guardians of The War Machine and protestors continued throughout the afternoon as they fought to keep determined anti-war protestors out of the base. Around the back of the base later on in the afternoon a wooden fence was torn down where protestors again attempted to enter the base.

A number of arrests were made.

ONLY DIRECT ACTION WILL STOP THIS WAR!!!!!!

London Anarchist Youth

Comments

Hide the following 7 comments

coprotate news

23.02.2003 16:12

Sky News are running it as a headline story and these are reports on the net:

BBC:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2791883.stm

Annanova:

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_753888.html?menu=

coverage

Remote Weapons Inspection

23.02.2003 17:25

Call RAF/USAF Fairford and ask to speak to the Base Commander, then ask him about the Weapons of Mass Destruction being held there:

01285-714000

no_war

Stopping the war

23.02.2003 19:43

direct action plus all other actions will stop this war. some can take action on bases, army recruitment headquarters, anything which is a target for direct action. Others can march from A to B which lets the press know that WE ARE NOT ALONE.
I hate this division between direct action, demos etc. Do whatever you can when you can. Work together.

heather

Main gate

23.02.2003 22:51

When people first started shaking it those around me
said "They'll never manage to get thru that" or words
to that effect.

I went and lent a hand as best I could, and it was really
inspiring when it finally gave!

Many many thanks to those who brought the cables!
Excellent idea! :)

gtr

An amazing day...

24.02.2003 11:55

When the gate opened it was amazing - I think everyone was a bit surprised we'd managed it so we didn't rush forward as quickly as we could have.

It wasn't an 'anarchist black bloc' who opened the gate, it was a very mixed crowd. Yes there were anarchos there (and I count myself as one of them though I wasn't wearing black), yes there were lots of them at the front but it's dishonest to claim it was just anarchos who did it. That sort of exaggeration makes us as bad as the corporate media.

I'm also not too sure about the numbers in that report...I definitely didn't see that many people get inside but I could be wrong.

Anyway...if anyone's considering using this tactic in future it's a good idea to attach to rope to the gate with a karabiner so the pigs can't cut it off easily. And I reckon it's definitely something we should do again!

base invader

tear it down

24.02.2003 12:51

I was there, and agree that it was the whole crowd, not just the anarchists who pulled the gate down, though credit to the people with the ropes.
That said, the anarchists were very determined, and earnt my respect.
If we had had a thousand rather than 500 we might have made it to the hangers and actually done some real damage to the war machine.
I also want to draw attention to the police use of dogs in the front line of clashes with people. There is no decent reason to use dogs unless to intimidate and frighten protestors, or to deliberatly endanger them. I was very nearly bitten by one, and I know at least one other protestor was bitten. This is unnacceptable.

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