7.11.08 La Hague, France. A nuclear waste transport begins its journey to an interim nuclear waste storage dump in Gorleben, northern Germany. Like all the previous transports, heavy opposition is expected....

8.11.08 2pm,Gorleben

I realise that I missed the traditional forest 'warm up game' the night before :
 http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231614.shtml

but theres no time to worry about it - running late to the big 'contact demonstration', all I can think about is the long days and nights ahead.
My affinity group arrived at demo to some good news: the Castor train had been stopped just before the border because 3 people had locked themselves to a concrete block under the tracks in Berg, on the German side of the border.
video:  http://www.cinerebelde.org/castor-2008-gleisblockade-berg-lauterburg-p-80.html

So the day had started on a good note and it continued this way pretty much without incident– 16,000 people were at the demo – the largest since years; a mix of autonomists, clowns, farmers, NGOs and the 'nonviolent' radical left. The demo ended by the nuclear dumpsite with several hundred people occupying the street infront of the nuclear dump and refusing to leave. (in the end, they didn't get removed for almost 2 days ....but more on that later)

protest report plus background info in english:
 http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231854.shtml

The rest of the day was spent preparing for the blockades of the train tracks planned for the next day.
The basic blockade concept was for large groups to try to get to the tracks through the forest from 2 different directions – north and south. It was a well planned and well coordinated action, except for one major point: given at least 9 hours delay due to the lock-on at the border, was there much point sticking to the 7.30 am start? (and in the end, the lock-on lasted 12 hours, much longer than the people locked on had hoped for) For some reason I still can't figure out, this new factor was simply not up for discussion.

So Sunday 6am – we drag ourselves out of too little sleep to get to the southern meeting point on time. Theres about 500 people there, and after 30 minutes or so walking through the forest we get to the tracks without much problems from the police. Once on the tracks its a different story – hundreds of people start digging the rocks out from under the tracks, ahead others are dragging dead wood on the rails and setting fire to it. Sitting blockades seem a bit pointless at that moment - damaging the tracks much more effective. The police, unable to see what was happening since people blocked their view with banners, gave warnings to disperse and quickly attacked – with batons, pepperspray, horses and watercannons.
None the less: thanks to some carjacks pieces of track were now beautiful bow shapes.
 http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/233155.shtml
report in english:  http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231840.shtml

video of blockades from the north  http://www.graswurzel.tv/index.php?mov_id=48


After hours of cat and mouse with riotcops in the forest, its was not even lunchtime, and the castor train still in Bavaria - at least 8 hours away. There was no point staying the forest - so everyone re-groups, starts to plan the next actions, tries to get an hour or so of sleep....

By the afternoon actions were totally spread throughout the area, it was impossible to keep track of what was happening. Thousands of people in affinity groups were causing complete chaos; Robin Wood activists were suspended from trees above the roads, there were sitting and roaming blockades at countless points of the tracks, two people chained themselves to traintracks. At Lüneberg there was a spontaneous demonstration at the station, and the blockade at the nuclear dumpsite in Gorleben continued to grow. Closer to the Metzingen camp, locals blocked the way of watercannons trying to get to blockades. Several people were suspended from a bridge over train tracks. Around Harlingen there were constant and repeated track blockades most of the day.

Harlingen report in english:
 http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/231949.shtml

I lost count of how many people where are suspended from trees over roads and traintracks – it seemed like a game – for every person that got taken down, several more would appear in their place. And as the day got darker there was still no idea of when the train would make it to the area.

By the Metzingen camp barricades started burning on the streets,  http://www.graswurzel.tv/index.php?mov_id=47
by Hitzacker camp watercannons driving past got attacked, windows and lights smashed, and a door torn off a police truck.
Police reported the tracks had been damaged in 31 different places and repair would take many hours. (and further more, that 'violence-ready autonomists' where mixing into the crowds of demonstrators...)

Meanwhile groups of people managed to get back into the forest and make sitting blockades on the tracks. But smaller groups of people in the forest got heavily attacked by police in the forest , and much worse than during the day.

As the train got closer the police tactic was increasingly one of containment – trying to stop people moving anywhere, road blocks, and surrounding people.

At midnight, hiding out in a well-kept suburban garden next to the tracks, everything seemed completely unreal. Helicopters with search lights light up the forest next to us, the shadows of police move against the wall next to me, making them more menacing than usual. We could make it onto the tracks but what then? A handful of people against an oncoming nuclear train and special forces.....? Watching it drive slowly past, I don't feel hopeless but a cold deep calculating anger---
(the next day i hear that three people managed to get onto the guarded tracks as the train approached, no easy task, and to climb onto the first nuclear container. They were quickly arrested....)

The train finally arrived in Dannenberg just after 1am Monday, where the castors had to be unloaded onto trucks to be driven the last stretch to Gorleben. From Dannenberg there is two different roads the trucks can go – the north route and south route. But theres plans for both...and as soon as the train arrived in Dannenberg it is announced the north route is blocked with 42 tractors and 500 people


Monday morning: loading the nuclear castors onto trucks was taking much longer than usual, and greenpeace measured radiation at much higher than normal levels. Continuing the chaining game, 2 greenpeace activists locked themselves to some unloading equipment:  http://www.graswurzel.tv/index.php?mov_id=50

My group has only had a few hours sleep, but we wake up to new blockades and actions springing up so I crawl out of bed, find coffee, extra layers of clothes, and we set off . First we go to the tractor blockade in the village of Quickborn. It is an eerie sight – at first seeming like a ghost village – totally empty but for police patrolling the streets. But the people living there have left all the gates and gargages open and its possible to get to the blockade by climbing over fences, through courtyards and gardens. Suddenly finding ourselves at the blockade, it is much bigger than I expected and the mood is good. At the front lines riotpolice make occassional pushes into the front rows of people - who stand their ground, push back and pass around cake. A climber has climbed onto police machinery being used to move tractors, and they have to bring a crane to get him down. Which is a bad idea, since he quickly climbs on top of the new crane. The irritation and embarrassment of the police is truly beautiful to watch.
In the end this blockade takes police 24 hours to clear. Each tractor has different mechanical problems which the police have to work out new each time.
 http://www.graswurzel.tv/index.php?mov_id=49

Despite the 16,000 police in the area trying to control the roads its also pretty easy to get to the blockade in southern village of Grippel. In Grippel 8 farmers were locked to concrete pryamids, this takes 12 hours to remove. Mostly because the pyramids were really well made, partly because it seems the police had problems actually getting the equipment they needed to the village, and then figuring out how to use it.

Meanwhile the blockade at Grippel grew bigger and bigger; police had started to clear the sitting blockade at nearby Gorleben (carrying people away one by one), but no one was being arrested so people just walked over from one blockade to the next.

video of Grippel blockade
 http://www.graswurzel.tv/index.php?mov_id=51

report of Gorleben blockade in english, plus photos
 http://de.indymedia.org/2008/11/232202.shtml

Finally at 11.15pm the police had cleared the blockades from the roads and the castor transport began driving the south route. Although the street was mostly clear, opposition just got more tense and emotional, people were not giving up but moving determindly towards the street or trying to build barricades. Everywhere police were using gas, watercannons, and batons etc to beat people not just to the '50metre line' away rom the road but past it, and continued even after the trucks had driven past.

video of final stretch of transport at Laase: water cannons, riotcops, burning barricades
 http://www.graswurzel.tv/index.php?mov_id=55

summary:
This was the longest Castor transport in the history of the transport. 20 hours later than planned, at a policing cost of 24,8 Million euros, and after many convincing blockades from farmers, autonomists, environmentalists and local communities, the nuclear waste transport reached the Gorleben 'interim storage depot' at 00:39 am on Tuesday 11 November.

There were protests and direct actions throughout Germany, including arson attacks on the railway signal cables around Karlsruhe,Hamburg-Reinbek, Großraum Berlin, Hamm, and Wiesbaden
8 - 11 November.  http://directactionde.blogspot.com/2008/11/castor-protest-brandanschlge-auf.html

Leadup actions included railway track sabotage  http://directactionde.blogspot.com/2008/10/castor-track-sabotaged.html and attacks on Vattenfall power company cars  http://directactionde.blogspot.com/2008/11/attacks-on-vattenfall-power-company.html

Connections to anti-castor actions are also being made in the arrest of 10 autonomists in France last week, after railway line sabotages throughout France:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/11/413039.html


Castor transport figures according to police:
There were 46 arrests, including one person who was taken into 'preventative custody' before the transport began, and held 3.5 days. 293 people were temporarily held in custody, 2478 banning orders were issued (orders banning people from being in a particular area) and 50 tractors were confistcated. 50 police officers were injured - 38 of these not from protesters but their own incompetence. (falling over etc)


castor ticker in english
 http://castor.de/english/2008/index_en.html

further reports:
 http://de.indymedia.org/castor/
 http://directactionde.blogspot.com/