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proof that kingsnorth was infact shut down by protesters!

elfie | 11.08.2008 15:46 | Climate Camp 2008 | Climate Chaos | Ecology | Social Struggles | London

the water cooling inlet system of kingsnorth power station was shut down because of four protesters who conducted a peacefull sitdown protest above it.



on saturday the 9th of august four activists using great skill and dexterity managed to gain access to the water inlet area of kingsnorth powerstation and sat on a ledge above the water.

while the protesters sat calmly getting to know one another and making phone calls to the local press the riot police behind the razor wired fence began to cut holes using bolt croppers to allow climbing specialists rigged with all their equipment to come from either side surrounding the protesters. the police removed a large sign from behind and another hole was cut in order to allow the police to pull the peaceful protesters through to the other side of the fence where barking dogs and riot police awaited. all four protesters remained calm and decided to link arms with one another. as the police struggled to pull them free they held on tightly and managed to remain there whilst more police joined in the task of removing the peaceful static protesters using all the force and tactics they could. eventually after much effort from the police one by one the protesters were removed, after being handcuffed and searched (again) they were put in to the back of a police van this was the first of many as they went through at least three different vehicle on the way to the station. three of the protesters were released later on that night and the forth was charged in the early hours of sunday morning where she then found out that unbeknown to her e'on had instructed "the water inlet cooling system to be shut down" (see charge sheet) thus causing major disruption to the entire running of the plant. the forth activist was remanded and after attending court on the monday morning she was granted bail.

well done to everyone that took part weather in the action itself (green, blue, silver and orange groups) or in climate camp in general (food, workshops, setting up and securing the camp) your input has been greatly appreciated and this success would have not been possible without you, thankyou.

elfie
- e-mail: vegan23@hotmail.co.uk

Comments

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strange days

12.08.2008 11:08

"proof that kingsnorth was infact shut down by protesters"

That's not what the charge sheet, and since when did we believe anything the police write on them?

hmm


interesting

12.08.2008 17:03

it would apear that e.on claimed they had to shut down the cooling, or else the person will get off agg tress. But funny the wording that they "caused criminal damage to be done to the fences to ensure their safety". All that hoo-ha about weapons and objects likely to cause crim dam and then the police destroy people's bike locks, and cut bloody great holes in the security fences of the power station, and then charge people with 'causing it to be done'. Hilarious. The location of the cooling inlets was pointed out at a workshop i attended, it is essential to the power station working. So I guess with the big holes in the fences it would not be hard for anyone to go back there and ACTUALLY get the cooling shut down. The screws pulling water in turn pretty slowly, I've heard. I would never consider such an easy and effective action, and would strongly advise against anyone attempting, at all, ever. Especially not on a random and unannounced day, when it might cause a real halt to power generation. That would be silly and counter-productive and as it wouldn't fall within the week of action, it wouldn't be newsworthy, would it?

te@


It's all good

12.08.2008 17:56

Either the power station really was shut down OR they'll get off the charges, so I guess it's all good...

AliceJ
- Homepage: http://alice-in-blogland.blogspot.com/


Mystery solved

13.08.2008 08:42

Unfortunately only half true...

12.08.2008 13:58
Unfortunately this question has already been answered by the Medway Messenger which challenged E.ON on this point. They explained that the power station has four pumps and only one was shut down.

 http://www.medwaymessenger.co.uk/news/default.asp?article_id=45687

I would imagine that a facility of this size has a lot of built-in redundancy and it would take this make than this to force it to stop generating.

James

James