GM activists blockade Sainsbury's Merseyside depot (not a repeat for local IMCs
Genie out of the bottle | 03.03.2005 20:20 | Bio-technology | Ecology | Liverpool
NOTE FOR IMC EDITORS: this happened between Manchester & Liverpool, so please don't delete from newswire again. If you made it so possible to select more than 2 regions, this wouldn't be a problem. People from the Yorkshire region came & so wanted it on their local newswire too...
At eleven o'clock last night a group of about 25 people took advantage of the beautiful clear weather to blockade the Sainsbury's depot in Haydock, Merseyside.
This was part of a national campaign to force Sainsbury's to stop selling stuff from animals fed on GM feed. It follows a similar blockade near Bristol last Friday, and 27 recent supermarket demos. Animal feed is the last route left for GM in the UK to enter the food chain and is the main market for GM material being imported into the country. See
http://www.geneticsaction.org.uk/resources/alliancesainsburys.pdf
A defunct Skoda was dumped at the main gate and two people locked themselves to it (to a welded-on hoop), while two other people locked the emergency gate shut, all using d-locks around their necks. The blockade lasted for two and a half hours, costing Sainsbury's an estimated £250,000 to £400,000*.
The police appeared on the scene just before midnight and about an hour later the specialist blockade-removing van arrived. It was apparent to us that they had recently been trained to deal with this type of situation:
-The van had a roof-mounted crane, ladders, hydraulic bolt croppers, neck protection devices & protective cloaks (for the people being removed) and other specialist equipment.
-The police seemed to be following procedure to the letter, clearing people away from the lock-ons swiftly, searching locked-on people for dangerous items, etc. They acted very confidently and efficiently, without much aggression.
-They filmed it all thoroughly, and at the end they asked the legal observer if it had all been carried out correctly.
-They didn't seem to be interested in arresting people, however...
...they did arrest the first person who was cut off. He was arrested, ID-verified, charged (with obstruction) and released within twenty minutes, and didn't even see the inside of a police cell.
Sainsbury’s suppliers now pay most farmers less for their milk than it costs to produce. 40 dairy farmers are going under every week in Britain at the moment because of the supermarkets pricing policies. This goes hand in hand with the international crisis of biotechnology. Farmers want to avoid GM crops, but the poor payment they currently receive forces many of them to keep using the fractionally cheaper GM contaminated imports. The continuing threat of GM, and the corporate aquisition and gentrification of the countryside, could be stopped if farmers got a fair fraction of the price paid for their milk, and the supermarkets were obliged to keep their 3 year old promise to phase out GM feed.
*This is based on Sainsbury's estimate in a recent court case, that they lose £100-150,000 per depot per hour of disruption.
See also comments at http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306097.html
Photos at
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306098.html
Comments on police tactics at
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306128.html
This was part of a national campaign to force Sainsbury's to stop selling stuff from animals fed on GM feed. It follows a similar blockade near Bristol last Friday, and 27 recent supermarket demos. Animal feed is the last route left for GM in the UK to enter the food chain and is the main market for GM material being imported into the country. See
http://www.geneticsaction.org.uk/resources/alliancesainsburys.pdf A defunct Skoda was dumped at the main gate and two people locked themselves to it (to a welded-on hoop), while two other people locked the emergency gate shut, all using d-locks around their necks. The blockade lasted for two and a half hours, costing Sainsbury's an estimated £250,000 to £400,000*.
The police appeared on the scene just before midnight and about an hour later the specialist blockade-removing van arrived. It was apparent to us that they had recently been trained to deal with this type of situation:
-The van had a roof-mounted crane, ladders, hydraulic bolt croppers, neck protection devices & protective cloaks (for the people being removed) and other specialist equipment.
-The police seemed to be following procedure to the letter, clearing people away from the lock-ons swiftly, searching locked-on people for dangerous items, etc. They acted very confidently and efficiently, without much aggression.
-They filmed it all thoroughly, and at the end they asked the legal observer if it had all been carried out correctly.
-They didn't seem to be interested in arresting people, however...
...they did arrest the first person who was cut off. He was arrested, ID-verified, charged (with obstruction) and released within twenty minutes, and didn't even see the inside of a police cell.
Sainsbury’s suppliers now pay most farmers less for their milk than it costs to produce. 40 dairy farmers are going under every week in Britain at the moment because of the supermarkets pricing policies. This goes hand in hand with the international crisis of biotechnology. Farmers want to avoid GM crops, but the poor payment they currently receive forces many of them to keep using the fractionally cheaper GM contaminated imports. The continuing threat of GM, and the corporate aquisition and gentrification of the countryside, could be stopped if farmers got a fair fraction of the price paid for their milk, and the supermarkets were obliged to keep their 3 year old promise to phase out GM feed.
*This is based on Sainsbury's estimate in a recent court case, that they lose £100-150,000 per depot per hour of disruption.
See also comments at
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306097.html Photos at
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306098.html Comments on police tactics at
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306128.html
Genie out of the bottle
Comments
Hide the following 4 comments
Un tick UK for cross posts to regional sites :-)
04.03.2005 00:44
1. Post the article to the UK plus two other regions -- this post will show on the front page.
2. Repost the article to two other regions and NOT the UK -- this post will not appear on the front page.
Repeat 2. as needed :-)
Chris
Joy and rahh
04.03.2005 11:38
Any chance of some photos? Did the person charged with obstruction get a court date or did they dearrest? 25 people, in this weather, fair bloomin play my dears.
You may be interested to know that Sainsbury's head office are well aware of events and not especially happy. Always a good sign.
Much much love and infinate respect (do you think there's any chance of tying this to the other blockade story and getting it as a feature?)
Love and general happyness
really rather cheerful in the west
correction
04.03.2005 14:29
I believe the person who spotted the above had their view obstructed and was unable to move! What was on top of their van was the kit for removing people off tripods, which included ladders and platforms. It had runners etc, but not a crane. If this is any different once I've spoken to someone who went and had a good look, I'll post it here.
For photos see
For comment on police tactics see
For different comments see
And to 'really rather cheerful in the west' - yes, try and get it as a feature: contact UK-IMC at some address somewhere on the UK mainpage. You have to request it (unless they suggest it themselves to themselves) and your email is publicly archived. No photos of the car lock-on (so far?) available. Can describe it if you want? The person arrested has been given a court date (don't know what it is for now). And it only snowed heavily after we'd left, though it was a tad chilly!
trainspotter
comment
13.03.2005 14:04
eh?
hulkster