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West Midlanders join Camp for Climate Action

jeremy | 15.08.2007 18:16 | Climate Camp 2007 | Birmingham

Activists from across the West Midlands have established a neighborhood at the Camp for Climate Action taking place at Heathrow airport in protest at the unsustainable development of civil aviation infrastructure in the UK, specifically the expansion of Heathrow airport itself by the construction of a third runway.

Activists and campaigners from across the region are now a firmly established neighborhood at the camp, replete with kitchen and social facilities for 100 and a generous renewable energy supply in the form of a large wind turbine. The inhabitants are now busy attending a packed workshop schedule and planning for a day of mass action, taking place across Sunday 19th August and Monday 20th August.

The camp, including members of West Midlands neighborhood, have been on the receiving end of a systematic and aggressive policing strategy, including unlawful arrest and arbitrary detention, assault, and bullying and harassment by police intelligence teams.This culminated in a dramatic confrontation on Tuesday night when a group of around 20 policemen, who attempted to force themselves and an intelligence team on site, were surrounded and peacefully forced off site by a large group of camp activists. Tensions ran high in the ensuing standoff at the camp boundary as police riot teams began to arrive at the gates, only de-escalating with an apparent change of police command.

jeremy