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Derbyshire Coal Mine Occupation - Eviction Happening Now

notts-dispatch | 11.08.2008 10:11 | Ecology | Energy Crisis

It is now confirmed that the police have launched a full eviction attempt at the Bodge House squat in Shipley, Derbyshire. The house is located on the site of a proposed open cast coal mine.

Update Thursday 14th August: Two tunnelling protestors have been brought to the surface after spending over a week underground. The eviction is now over.

Update Sunday 10th August: Eviction is still ongoing at Bodge House, in Derbyshire. This is the 4th day of the operation and 4 people were arrested earlier today. The house is very heavily barricaded and 2-3 people are still reported to be inside. 4 vans of police and bailiffs still in attendence.

Update Friday 8th August: (added comment by Jane) - We were there today to give support to those still in the house. We arrived about 11.00am. There were loads of police as would be expected and 3 people were taken out of the house while we were there and taken to Ripley police station. We were not allowed near so could not see who it was. Around 3.00 in the afternoon a chap in a suit and 2 women in inappropriate shoes turned up. We think they were from the bailiff teams. They spoke to the chief inspector in charge and went to the house. All the time the bailiffs on site had been cutting down the trees surrounding the house and trying to get in the front door of the house. They succeeded just before the 'suits' arrived. We left around 4pm to run some film to ITN but I heard later that the bailiffs had started up a generator to get air to the people in the tunnel under the house but left the site around 5.30. they are due back tomorrow (Saturday) to get the 2 people in the tunnel out. Anyone who can get there, please get there to give support.

Update Thursday 7th August: Around 7.45am about 60 police and 50 bailliffs arrived at the house. Throughout the day the police have been trying to get through the barricades and defences. Local people and media have been at the scene. So far 3 people have been removed from lockons and a cargo net outside the house and have been arrested. 7 people are still inside and are heavily barricaded in, included being hidden in tunnels under the house. The bailiffs have put up security fences and although they have managed to enter part of the building, the eviction attempt has been stopped for today. It is estimated the eviction will take at least another couple of days.

Newswire: Bodge House (Shipley) coal tunnellers evicted after week underground | Short audio - Bodge House eviction | Eviction Of Coal Mine Protest Site (Bodge House) - pictures

Go there: Directions to the site (PDF)

See feature articles: Derbyshire Opencast Mine Squatters: Eviction Imminent | Coal On Hold - Derbyshire Coal Mine Site Occupied | Campaigners Trespass on Proposed Coal Mine Site

Mainstream coverage: Bailiffs 'just eight feet' away from underground eco-protesters at Smalley | Arrests at Smalley coal mine protest | Protesters evicted from Smalley site



On Friday July 18, UK Coal, who own the site, were granted a possession order for the Squatted farmhouse on the planned Lodge House open cast coal mine site. For some time it has been anticipated that an eviction is imminent, particularly as the climbing team used against road protesters has been seen around the site. It is evident that with the Climate Camp happening at Kingsnorth Power Station, the police saw their oppertunity to move in.

A little background: The site was occupied on Tuesday June 18 by climate campaigners from ‘Leave it in the Ground’. They barricaded themselves in a disused farm building and took to the trees on the site of the open cast mine. Under the cover of darkness activists secured themselves in the Prospect Farm building, on the site which is about to be devastated by huge machines. and claimed squatter’s rights.

notts-dispatch

Additions

update on the eviction

08.08.2008 21:45

We were there today to give support to those still in the house. We arrived about 11.00am. There were loads of police as would be expected and 3 people were taken out of the house while we were there and taken to Ripley police station. We were not allowed near so could not see who it was. Around 3.00 in the afternoon a chap in a suit and 2 women in inappropriate shoes turned up. We think they were from the bailiff teams. They spoke to the chief inspector in charge and went to the house. All the time the bailiffs on site had been cutting down the trees surrounding the house and trying to get in the front door of the house. They succeeded just before the 'suits' arrived. We left around 4pm to run some film to ITN but I heard later that the bailiffs had started up a generator to get air to the people in the tunnel under the house but left the site around 5.30. they are due back tomorrow (Saturday) to get the 2 people in the tunnel out. Anyone who can get there, please get there to give support
Cheers

Jane Burd

Last people evicted - for now.

14.08.2008 20:47

This morning at around 2.30am the two humans in the tunnel under Prospect Farm, the anti-opencast protest site near Shipley were eventually removed and arrested. The tunnel team seemed to have been pushed into working a 19 hour shift by UK Coal and their bosses after a week of hard work. Every day we noticed the increasing pressure on the tunnel team to work faster and faster. By the end it seemed that UK Coal were panicking at the rising cost of the eviction, and the ongoing coverage of the issue by the mainstream media.

Despite some rumours circulated in the popular media it was on the whole a comfortable and safe eviction, helped by the solid clay we were digging in. Digging small arc-shaped wormholes and chambers is the safest way to go, as arches are generally made stronger by weight applied to them.

It was a good innings really and we hope that people will take inspiration from the positive impact of the site to create many more varied actions all over the place. Certainly the struggle does not end here. We need to celebrate our collective impact and show all vessels of destruction and hatred that we are not prepared to cower back from prosecution or intimidation.

They do not know the end of it yet.

Good show chaps!

anon