UK Feature Archive
Abolish All Immigration Prisons
17-03-2009 21:17
On Tuesday morning, 20 anti-deportation campaigners blocked access to the Tinsley House immigration detention centre near Gatwick airport. Activists used d-locks and superglue to blockade the entrance gate for several hours. The action aimed to prevent the forced deportation on a charter flight of approximately 50 Iraqi refugees from the UK.
Groups affiliated to the UK No Borders network are now calling for demonstrations against immigration detention on Saturday 21st March. A protest march will lead from Bedford to the Yarl’s Wood detention centre, which was half destroyed by fire in 2002, following an uprising ignited by the ill-treatment of a sick woman by guards. Transport is available from London. Solidarity demonstrations are planned in Manchester and Edinburgh. The demonstration in Manchester will be going to the newly-expanded ‘Pennine House’ detention facility at the airport. The campaign to close this prison has achieved a high profile recently after the invasion of Phil Woolas’s offices and an intervention during a speech by Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese. In Edinburgh, campaigners will picket the private security company G4S. G4S profits from running immigration prisons in the UK, including Brook House, Dungavel near Glasgow and Pennine House.
Links: Tinsley House blockade | Photos 1 | Phil Woolas Detention | Custard Pie
Storm the Banks
06-03-2009 12:55
Climate Rush activists gathered outside RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), Thursday 5th March to protest the incredible multi million pound pay out to Fred (the shred) Goodwin, former RBS Chief Executive, and more importantly, the banks continuing role in funding the climate changing industries of coal, gas and oil. Posting the largest losses in British corporate history, RBS lost £24.1 billion in 2008 and has since had billions of pounds of taxpayers' money pumped into it. Already the largest bailout to date, the government has agreed to inject a further £13 billion on top of the £20 billion already given, and to make a further £6 billion available. While the tax payer now owns at least 70% of its shares, the bank continues to operate as a private company,
On the same day as the Climate Rush demo outside RBS, the Bank of England reduced the base interest rate to 0.5% and announced the printing of £100 billion pounds of new cash to inject into the stalled economy. Next month, the G20 leaders (G22 to be more precise) will arrive in London to discuss further ways to get the poor to bail out the rich. Various groups are mobilizing to protest against the summit which the police are co-promoting as part of a 'summer of rage'.
The G20 Meltdown group say they're going to reclaim the City, 'thrusting into the very belly of the beast', with a four pronged assault on the Bank of England at noon on 1st April. That afternoon, as part of a series of actions leading up to the COP15 climate summit in Copenhagen, the Camp for Climate Action aim to expose how the discredited market mechanisms are being sold as a solution to climate change and are planning a climate camp in the city close the the Carbon Trading Exchange.
Links : Climate Rush target RBS Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | LCAP occupies RBS | Quantitive Easing | Corporate Undead | Image From The Future | Bristol Dissent g20 Call Out | Climate Camp hits the city | Press Complaint over G20 article | RBS boss pension | Arrogance of Capitalism | Environmental silver lining? | Climate chaos meets economic chaos | Bash a Billionaire | Doubt of global financial crisis? | Origins of the Credit Crunch | Summer of rage? | Demand for energy falling | Climate Crimes Delayed | Dissident Island Economic Special | "Pro-Capitalist" Mobilisation Video
Aviation expansion grounded
04-03-2009 12:07
UPDATE: Lord Peter Mandelson, the unelected Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and key player in the Heathrow expansion plan, attacked with green custard.
Plane Stupid Scotland activists shut down Aberdeen airport by setting up a golf course on the taxiway and surrounding themselves with security fencing whilst another group occupied the roof of the terminal with a banner reading, “Nae Trump Games with Climate Change”. The 3am action prevented the scheduled reopening of the runway at 5am. After almost six hours the protesters voluntarily unlocked themselves when police claimed the taxiway was needed by an emergency helicopter. Eleven people, including local residents, were arrested.
Donald Trump backs Aberdeen airports expansion (where his super-rich pals will arrive to play golf on his controversial golf course). BAA obviously welcome Trump's involvement and need powerful friends right now. They are under presure from the Competition Commision and a down turn in the aviation industry is threatening expansion plans. Plans for a new runway at Stansted (blockaded by Plane Stupid last December) now looks likely to be postponed for at least two years and the airport will be put on the market without planning permission in place.
Despite government rhetoric about cutting CO2 emissions, there are expansion plans for 34 regional airports in the UK. Last month Plane Stupid activists interrupted a public meeting during a speech by Ed Miliband the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, unveiling a banner highlighting the hypocritical actions of the government in relation to aviation and climate change. Back in January Plane Stupid activists chained themselves to the entrance of Southampton airport and erected tents at the main entrance in a bid turn the regional airport into a climate refugee camp (they were in court yesterday and fined between £175 and £600 each).
Links: Greening of Mandelson | Aberdeen action 1 2 | Plane Stupid actions last month Southampton, Brighton | Stansted blockade 2008 | aviation and recession | airport expansion 1 2 | Stansted rumors | previous featureHome Secretary Blatantly Ignores Unfavorable Court Decision
04-03-2009 11:28
The Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, appears to have declared war on the government’s own secret terror court, overruling decisions made by judges in the Special Immigration Appeals Court (SIAC). In what can only be described as an act of executive fiat, two men who attended a hearing at the SIAC were driven away from the court, expecting to return home, as ordered by the SIAC judges, but were, instead, delivered to Belmarsh prison, where they were joined by three other men, who had been seized in raids on their homes.
Journalist and author Andy Worthington notes that the whole operation was clearly planned by the Home Secretary in advance. "Even though she had informed neither the men’s lawyers nor the SIAC judges." The first the lawyers heard about it was when one of the men’s wives rang, inquiring why he had not yet returned home. He adds; "the Home Secretary has acted in a manner that would have pleased King John, in those days before England's nobles forced him to sign the Magna Carta in 1215, establishing for the first time that the king had no right to imprison his subjects except upon the lawful judgment of his peers or the law of the land."
On The Newswire: Jacqui Smith versus Justice Mitting | Home Secretary ignores Court decision, kidnaps bailed men and imprisons them in Belmarsh | Revealed: flawed intelligence exposes the scandal of Belmarsh detainees | Invisible Barriers: Detention without Trial/Social Housing Policy in the UK Today
Previous Features: Hundreds Join Demo for Academic Freedom and Against Deportation | Anger Over "Terror Arrests" at Nottingham University | The Global War of Terror | The Racist 'War on Terror' | Terror profiling nets innocents
Links: National Guantanamo Coalition | Cageprisoners | 100 Days to Close Guantánamo and End Torture | The Campaign against Criminalising Communities | Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) | Reprieve | Andy Worthington | Indymedia Topic Pages: Terror War | Guantanamo
Full article | 1 addition | 2 comments
New Coal Digs In
02-03-2009 12:46
Climate Rush tackled more climate criminals last week when the UK coal industry got together for their annual 'coal awards'. In a protest timed to coincide with the UK Coal hosted awards, around 15 climate activists paid a visit to their Doncaster headquarters, dressed in Edwardian style complete with red sashes with the words 'No New Coal' written across them. A banner reading 'Leave it in the Ground' was suspended across the entrance.
In London, the dirty coal pushers shied away from confrontation with the modern day climate suffregette movement, abandoning their booking at the plush Landmark Hotel and scuttling off to Lords cricket grounds instead. At the hotel, around a hundred activists rushed inside through a fire exit and began an alternative awards ceremony to highlight the ecological damage that the coal industry is inflicting on the environment. After being ejected from the hotel, a couple more attempts were made to gain entry and one arrest was made before the alternate awards continued outside. The Landmark hotel management were less than happy about the righteous fury brought down on them by the climate criminals promised not to accept bookings from such damaging industries again.
Coal represent 50% of the electricity production in the UK and its greatest contribution to CO2 emissions so the coal industry has seen increasing attention from activists in the UK (and beyond). Last month activists and local resident disrupted work at the Rosewell open-cast coal mine in Midlothian, operated by Scottish Coal , and another protest stopped work at UK Coal owned Shipley open cast coal mine in Derbyshire. In the US capitol on Monday, 2,500 protesters blockaded the gates of a coal fired power plant for almost five hours.
Campaigns : Climate Rush | Coal Action Edinburgh | No New Coal | Capitol Climate Action | Coal Caravan
Newswire reports : Coal Rush 1 | 2 | 3 | Doncaster 1 2 | Rosewell | Shipley | USA 1 2
Previous Climate Rush actions : 'climate suffragettes' smash gov windows | chained to parliament | Heathrow 1 2 | Manchester 1 2 | Parliament 1 2
SHAC Shakedown City Investors
01-03-2009 22:25
On Friday 27th February around 300 campaigners from around the country, and from around the world, traveled for a loud and vibrant march and demonstration in the capital against the financial supporters of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the largest and most exposed vivisection laboratory in Europe.
With HLS’ share price now the lowest in four years, the unjust incarceration of SHAC campaigners and the latest footage of monkeys being abused inside HLS’ labs, angry, passionate and determined campaigners gathered at the Bank of England – the only bank in the world providing HLS with banking facilities. The day of action aimed to publicly show financial investors that anti-vivisectionists will not tolerate puppies being thrown around, monkeys being cut open alive and other innocent animals suffering in silence. The protest was part of a global week of action organised by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), with actions so far reported in London (1 | 2 | 3), Somerset, Cambridge, Netherlands, Italy, Chile, Sweden, Poland, (1 | 2) France and Russia (Videos: 1 | 2).
First stop was HLS’ largest shareholder Barclays, which saw an impromptu banner drop from the bridge directly above the bank. Activists then moved onto more HLS and NYSE Euronext shareholders (1 | 2), the only stock exchange in the world listing the company after dropping them in 2000 and postponing their listing in 2005. Huntingdon are currently $83 million dollars in debt, without a commercial bank or insurance company in the world prepared to deal with them.
Top HLS Investors Dump Shares
25-02-2009 22:11
Just days before the SHAC global week of action kicked off and two weeks after Huntingdon Life Sciences' vivisection laboratories were exposed for the seventh time in ten years, revealing shocking undercover footage, HLS shareholders have sold 15% of the company (ticker symbol LSR). As a result the percentage of LSR stock held by institutions fell further from 20.1% to 17.7%, leaving them below the minimum listing standards of the New York Stock Exchange, a major target in the campaign to close down HLS.
Wells Fargo, who were one of LSR's top five institutional investors has sold all their 147,511 shares and the Bank of New York Mellon, previously third largest investor, sold most of their LSR stock dumping 149,157 shares. BNY Mellon now only have 26,634 remaining of the original 175,791 shares, with Turner Investment Partners Inc also selling their 56,880 stock.
The announcement was made the day before Animal Liberation Front (ALF) activists reported they had slashed car tryes at the home of BNY's Business Analyst in Hampshire, whilst other covert cells targeted HLS associates in solidarity with political prisoners, including the UK SHAC 7. Protests also took place at BNY and Wells Fargo's offices and executive's homes, as part of a three-month campaign based primarily in London [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ] (England) and New York City (USA) [ 1 | 2 ].
HLS have been suffering from a serious lack of investment since December 2007, with over a dozen corporations selling all their shares in LSR. Their share price as of February 25th is $5.78, the lowest since their high of nearly $40 in September 2008. With an unstable share price, activists continue to increase the pressure against HLS shareholders, particularly largest investor Barclays.
Full article | 1 addition | 44 comments
How do you know that Indymedia does not keep logs?
19-02-2009 00:00
Indymedia UK (IMC-UK) is a network of activists who provide an open publishing platform. We are part of the wider Indymedia Network that started in Seattle during the protests against the WTO in November 1999, and the UK site was one of the first to join the network in early 2000. In common with all Indymedia Centres (IMCs) around the world, as designated in the (draft) Principles of Unity, IMC-UK does not log IP addresses - as detailed on the security page. Moreover, following on from previous requests by governmental authorities for logs, IMC-UK and many other Indymedia sites (e.g. the global website, www.indymedia.org) do not retain any logs related to the website. These facts are documented on our open mailing lists and on the open IMC documentation site, docs.indymedia.org. (here for example).
In the rest of this article, we provide some advice on how to improve the measures you take when publishing on the website if you want to do so anonymously. We also outline some legal procedures that could potentially be used to attack Indymedia and the right to free expression, as well as describing some of the technical points in more detail.
Full article | 2 additions | 26 comments
Hosting Indymedia Servers is Illegal?
12-02-2009 18:30
This Monday (9 February 2009), Kent Police arrested a man in Sheffield under the Serious Crime Act 2007 in relation to the recent Indymedia server seizure. His home was raided, all computer equipment and related papers taken. He was released after eight hours. The person had neither technical, administrative nor editorial access to the Indymedia UK website. He was only associated to the project by hosting its server.
The arrest took place under Section 44-46 of the Serious Crime Act, which was passed into law on 1st October 2008 to combat serious international crime like drug trafficking, prostitution, money laundering and armed robbery. Sections 44-46 refer to “encouraging or assisting offences”.
Kent police claim that they are after the IP address of the poster of two anonymous comments to a report about a recent animal liberation court case, which included personal details of the Judge. The IP address of the poster is not stored as Indymedia does not log IP addresses. This was acknowledged by British Transport Police in 2005, after the Bristol IMC server seizure.
For the police to arrest the person who happened to sign the contract for server hosting, is sheer intimidation, in light of Indymedia’s openly stated policy of no IP logging.
With the implementation of the EU Data Retention Directive in March 2009, the UK government attempts to turn every internet service provider in the country into part of the law enforcement apparatus. This legislation will provide a legal basis to track, intimidate, harass, and arrest people who are doing valuable and necessary work for social change, for example as peace activists, campaigners for economic and social justice or against police brutality.
The present intimidation of the open publishing alternative news platform Indymedia will have serious implications for anyone running a server in the UK which allows user contributions – blogs, social networking sites, wikis. This is an attempt to close down sites that respect the privacy of their contributors, pure and simple.
Victory for wildcat strikers
12-02-2009 18:12
Thousands of workers in the construction industry who walked out in solidarity with workers at the Lindsey oil refinery run by Total in Killingholme, Lincolnshire, have won a significant victory. Strikers at Lindsey voted to accept a deal drawn up by union officials and the companies involved in the dispute and end their unofficial industrial action on Thursday 5th February.
The government and media have been keen to present this as a nationalist or even "racist" dispute and the ever-opportunistic BNP made efforts to capitalise on the struggle. Certainly there have been reactionary elements within the strike and the "British jobs for British workers" slogan, which echoes Prime Minister Gordon Brown, is unerringly reminiscent of the far-right. Nevertheless, the politics of the strike were complicated and at Langage Power Station near Plymouth, Polish workers joined strikers.
Regional Feature: Workers walk out at Staythorpe
Newswire: Strikes in oil refineries and power stations | British jobs for British workers - Green jobs for Green workers? | Oil and Power strikes: News, Resouces and analysis | Wildcat strikes in Newark | Today's wildcat strikes in the UK oil and now nuke business | Wildcat strikes - an open letter to the anarchist/anti-authoritarian movement | A 'Racist' Strike? | BNP activists agitating at wildcat strikes
Links: ConstructionWorkerUk | Unite the Union | Indymedia UK Workers Movements topic page
The Whale Wars - Sea Shepherd Returns From Antarctica
07-02-2009 15:59
The flagship of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the M/Y Steve Irwin, is heading back from the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary where it has been on patrol to enforce international conservation regulations in protection of the area's great whales. Since its departure from Brisbane, Australia on December 4th, the ship and its crew have been involved in various confrontations with a Japanese Whaling Fleet, which continues to operate a commercial whale hunt in the area illegally.
On December 26th, the Steve Irwin confronted the Japanese vessel Kaiko Maru. The ships collided and Sea Shepherd crew deployed butyric acid on its decks. From 1st February the whaling operation was shut down for 8 days straight with both sides of the conflict accusing each other of dangerous manoeuvres and tactics. On February 6th, the Steve Irwin collided with a harpoon ship twice, when it tried to block the ship from offloading a dead whale onto the factory ship Nisshin Maru. As part of an international crew of volunteers, 3 activists from the UK worked onboard the Sea Shepherd vessel during the campaign which was dubbed operation Musashi.
Photos: Photo Report – Onboard Sea Shepherd Operation Musashi | Videos: Ramming the Japanese whaling ship - Sea Shepherd | Sea Shepherd collides with whaling harpoon ship (Indybay)
On The Newswire: Sea Shepherd Forced To Leave Killing Grounds In Antarctica | Ramming the Japanese whaling ship, onboard the Steve Irwin | Sea Shepherd blames acoustic weapon attack for Ramming Whaling ship | Japanese Whalers Playing Dangerous Games in the Ross Sea | Sound weapons used against protestors | Whalers harassed by Sea Shepherd in Australian Antarctic waters | Whalers flee Sea Shepherd in Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary
Previous Features: Japan issues arrest warrant for Nottingham activist | Arrests As International Whaling Commission Fails To Protect Whales | Nottingham Activist Returns From Whale Saving Mission In Antartica | Sea Shepherd activists injured as Japanese military open fire | Activists Held Hostage By Japanese Whalers In Southern Ocean | Whalers use Public Relations to twist the truth
Links: Sea Shepherd Conservation Society | Institute For Cetacean Research (Japanese pro-whaling PR) | Ocean Defence Topic page
Resistance Against the Illegal Sale of Israeli settlement products in the UK
05-02-2009 20:37
This week activists have responded to an international callout for actions against the import of Valentine's day flowers.
On Saturday activists gathered at Carmel-Agrexco, Middlesex, to picket the main supply point for Israeli imports into the UK.
See Photos And Reports 1| 2| 3|and original press release On Thursday morning a group of fifteen women blockaded the warehouse again to prevent the transport of flowers to British supermarkets Links : Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign | Palestine Solidarity Campaign | Who Profits |
Previous Actions: Carmel Agrexco's Depot Shut Down in Commemoration of the Nakba | Fortress Carmel Agrexco breached by Peace Activists | Video - Carmel Agrexco protest during Camp for Climate Action | Weekend of Action Against Carmel Agrexco | Activists Blockade Carmel-Agrexco's UK Headquarters for the Third Time | International Actions against Israeli Apartheid| Solidarity Actions in the West Bank, Gaza and the UK
Obama, Guantánamo and the “War on Terror”
01-02-2009 15:53
Update: Binyam Mohamed/UK involvement in torture
Former Guantánamo prisoners including Moazzam Begg and Chris Arendt, a former guard, are completing a UK speaking tour to “mark seven years of unlawful detention, abuse and torture”. The tour, organised by Cage Prisoners started in London on 11th January 2009, exactly seven years after the first transfers to the prison torture camp at Guantánamo Bay at date which was marked in London by a weekend of actions. Sami al-Haj, a former Guantánamo prisoner and Al Jazeera journalist was due to be one of the speakers but instead he joined a Free Gaza boat which was fired on and didn’t make it. By the Sheffield meeting, held on the date of Obama’s inauguration, he had been replaced by Omar Deghayes another former Guantánamo prisoner. In Liverpool the meeting “was held on the same day as the US president signed an order to close Guantanamo. Moazzam Begg was not impressed, and commented that Barack Obama spoke about ‘outlawing torture’ as though he himself had just decided to make it illegal: “It has ALWAYS been illegal, at least in any civilised country”" Further reports can be found on the tour blog.
Tour Reports: London (audio) | Bristol | Sheffield (audio: 1 | 2) | Liverpool | Guantánamo Voices Tour Blog
Campaigns: Cageprisoners | The National Guantánamo Coalition | 100 Days to Close Guantánamo and End Torture | The Campaign against Criminalising Communities | Scotland Against Criminalising Communities (SACC) | Reprieve | Andy Worthington
Background: Andy Worthington on Antiwar Radio: Obama, Guantánamo and Torture (audio) | SchNews: [ Inside Guantanamo | Omar Deghayes Speaks to SchNews ] Seven Years of Guantánamo Bay: London Actions | Guantánamo - Obama could do better | Binyam’s Story: From Ladbroke Grove to GTMO | The Rendition Monolgues | Moazzam Begg and Andy Worthington on Human Rights in The War on Terror | Can Human Rights Survive the "War on Terror"? | Guantánamo Bay: The Case of Omar Deghayes | Craig Murray: Legality, Morality and the War on Terror
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Police Seize UK Indymedia Server (Again)
23-01-2009 00:09
On 22 January 2009 an Indymedia server was seized by the Police in Manchester. This was related to postings about the recent Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) trial.
Kent Police had e-mailed imc-uk-contact in the morning requesting that personal information about the Judge from the recent SHAC trial in the UK be removed from the site. However this information had already been quickly removed in line with IMC UK policy. The e-mail also requested information relating to the poster be retained. Indymedia as an open posting news service does not log such information about its sources.
The machine was handed to the Police by the management of UK Grid, a Manchester based colocation facility, without a warrant being shown. It is believed that a warrant for this one server may exist and have been issued by a Chief Inspector. As the server was a mirror of the site, it can be concluded that the validity of the seizure wasn't checked, and the police attacked Indymedia infrastructure in the UK.
Other sites that have been affected as a result of this seizure include London Indymedia, the global Indymedia documentation project server, la Soja Mata – an anti-GM soya campaign focusing on South American development, Transition Sheffield and a Canadian campaign against the 2010 olympics.
For details see Indymedia Uk Server Seizure Info Page and Press Release #1
Indymedia Coverage: IMC Athens | IMC Barcelona [en] | IMC Brasil | IMC Germany | Indybay | IMC Ireland | IMC Nantes [fr] | IMC New York | IMC Poland | IMC Switzerland [it]
Other Coverage: The Register | SchNews | Gulli [de] | Annalist [de] | heise online [de] | slashdot | Global Integrity Commons
Previous Seizures: FBI seizure, London | British Transport Police seizure, Bristol 2005
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Over a dozen university occupations for Palestine
22-01-2009 13:00
Students across the country are holding occupations and sit ins in solidarity with Gaza. SOAS shut down a MOD exhibition on their campus whilst students at LSE declared victory after seven days when the university agreed to all of their demands.
They are followed by others at King's College,Essex, Warwick, Sussex , Birmingham and over 80 Oxford University students have occupied the historic Bodleian building to demand that the university releases a statement condemning the attack on Gaza and cancel the lecture series at Balliol College inaugurated by Israeli war criminal Shimon Peres. There are also early reports of occupations at Manchester Met, Newcastle, Leeds, Cambridge [Pics], Bradford, Queen Mary, Sheffield Hallam, Nottingham, Strathclyde and Manchester universities. Update Wed 28th: The occupations have started to bring in results as both Sussex and Bradfod students have declared "victory" [See Sussex and Bradford declarations] On the other hand, the Cambridge University occupation is under threat of eviction [more] Update Sun 1st Feb: Nottingham occupation violently evicted [more | video] Update 11th Feb: Golsmiths University and the University of East Anglia are occupied.
In Yorkshire, students have occupied a building at Leeds University whilst the Bradford AGM voted to give the university the weekend to comply with demands to support the Palestinians, or expect action on Monday. On Tuesday morning, around 80 students occupied the university boardroom. The students say they "are enraged and horrified by the unspeakable atrocities that have been committed by the Israeli military on the people of Palestine, and ... will not tolerate the complicity of ... institutions of education in this violence."
Regional features: Cambridge | Nottingham | Sheffield
Full article | 5 additions | 9 comments
50 Years For The UK SHAC 7
22-01-2009 09:50
On Wednesday 21st January, seven activists from the campaign Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) were sentenced to a total of fifty years in prison, after they were found guilty in December 2008 of 'conspiracy to blackmail' Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS). Heather Nicholson was jailed for 11 years, Gregg and Natasha Avery sentenced to nine years each, Gavin Medd-Hall an eight-year prison sentence, Daniel Wadham jailed for five years, Dan Amos and another were both sentenced to four years in prison.
"They conspired to do A B and C ... with Persons or Persons Unknown." - Who were persons unknown? It really didn't matter, as the above conspiracy law linked the individuals even though they had never met them or talked to them. However, this was all ignored as the media falsely charged the activists with hypocrisy, extremism and terrorism, instead of acknowledging their own hypocritical standpoint, best portrayed by the Telegraph, with NETCU helping to further the hysteria following the activists guilty verdicts.
Related newswire: Steve Pearl and Netcu we know where you work... | How you might go to prison for not knowing or knowing someone... | Article on the SHAC 7 [USA] | SHAC Sentences anounced | SHAC trial ends - defendants jailed with disproportionate sentences! | SHAC Sentencing - watch this space | SHAC : Hypocrisy, Terrorism and Extremism. | Yesturdays Torygraph frothing at the mouth over SHAC | SHAC sentencing and festering hypocrisy | Demonstrations outside HLS on days of SHAC sentencing. Join us! | SHAC Case’s Impact on the Environmental Movement | Thoughts on media hysteria post SHAC trial. | SHAC Newsletter 50 - Out Now! | National Anti-Vivisection Day of Action - Mon 19th Jan | Letter from AR Prisoner Luke Steele
Full article | 11 additions | 24 comments
EDO Smashed!
17-01-2009 19:07
Anti-militarist activists entered the ITT/EDO MBM arms factory in Moulescombe, Brighton in the early hours of this morning, where they are believed to have caused extensive damage to the offices, and to equipment used to make arms, including the 'zero retention force arming units' and 'ejector release unit 151' which the Smash EDO/ITT campaign says are supplied to the Israeli Air Force. The campaign became aware of the action when they received a phone call from those inside the factory this morning who said that they were 'decommissioning' the factory in solidarity with the people of Gaza, who are currently at the receiving end of the factories products.
Updates: EDO Decomissioners Charged | Solidarity Demo Brighton Magisrates Mon. 19th | Three remanded at bail hearing |
Links: Campaign Website | Action Page |
Full article | 4 additions | 5 comments
Resistance escalates with Airport 'Green' Light
12-01-2009 13:13
Both Heathrow and Manchester airports were targeted Monday with the domestic departure lounges of both airports simultaneously occupied by protesters. In London over 500 people defied airport bylaws by staging a sit-down dinner forcing airport operator BAA to close 18 check-in desks. In Manchester police used powers under Section 14 of the Public Order Act to contain up to 100 protesters on the ground floor of Terminal 3 and there was one arrest.
The Climate Rush actions were timed to coincide with MPs return to the house of commons with the government expected to announce the decision on the Heathrows airport expansion during week. Meanwhile, Greenpeace revealed that a plot of land within the proposed expansion site had been purchased in an attempt to delay the construction.
Despite media speculation that the announcement would be delayed, by Wednesday nght the media were reporting that the expanision plans have been given the green light. After the official announcement on Thursday, 'climate suffragettes' smashed the windows of the Department of Transport and on Saturday 500 flash mobbed at Heathrows terminal 5.
Newswire Reports : Climate Rush Heathrow images, 12.01.09 | Heathrow Terminal One Climate Rush Picnic a success! | Northern Climate Rush at Manchester Airport | Northern Climate Rush Photos (video) | Protests against airport extension in Frankfurt | Why I renounce my vote | Suffra-jets smash windows
Campaign Links: Plane Stupid | Airport Watch | Climate Rush | T5Flashmob"> | HACAN ClearSkies | No Third Runway Action Group | Stop Heathrow Expansion | Campaign for Better Transport | Airport Pledge | Stop Bristol Airport Expansion
Full article | 7 additions | 27 comments
National Free Gaza demo 10.01.2009
10-01-2009 13:27
Two weeks into Israels latest war of aggression against the people of Palestine over 800 people are dead, over 257 of which are children. Around the world there have been militant protests and this weekend saw the second UK national demonstration since the invasion took place in London. Between 50,000 and 100,000 people took part in the march which went from London's Hyde Park to the Israeli embassy. Other demonstrations and actions took place across the country over the whole weekend.
See the whole timeline of events
London: eye witness reports | injuries during demo | another report | photos from demo | more photos 1 | more photos 2 | more photos | anarchist bloc | scuffles behind embassy | riot photos | Ahava store occupied | Song Protest during Pro-Israel rally
Elsewhere: Sheffield report ( photos) | Scotland | Lancaster | Wrexham | Bristol | Brighton | Newcastle | Falmouth | Birmingham
Full article | 9 additions | 2 comments
Gaza: Stop The Genocide
06-01-2009 15:07
Death toll update for Tuesday 6th of Jan 2009: Israel escalated its operations in the Gaza Strip killing at least 82 Palestinians in less than 24 hours. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 683 have been killed over eleven days of Israeli attacks on Gaza. More than 2,850 have been injured. The hospitals say they have run out of supplies because of the blockade and Gaza faces a "a full-blown humanitarian crisis", the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on 6 January. On 3 January 2009 tens of thousands of people protested across the UK and across the world against the Israeli state's slaughter.
Reports: Sheffield | Portsmouth | Lancaster | Manchester | Cambridge | Brighton | Shrewsbury: 1 | 2 | London: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Liverpool | Newcastle | Bristol | Birmingham (video)
Up and coming demonstrations for Gaza: Continuous vigil for Gaza in Parliament Square, London, every day - from 10.30am, Thursday 8 Jan 2009 | Safe place for Gaza all over the world until the genocide stops! | Pedal for Palestine: London ride against the massacre in Gaza 18:00 Friday 9 Jan 2009 | Demonstration, London UK 12:30, Hyde Park, Saturday, 10 Jan 2009 | Rally for peace in Gaza - Belfast Saturday, 10 Jan 2009 | Wrexham, UK 10 Jan 2009 |Leeds, UK 10 Jan 2009 | Lobby your MP Saturday, 10 Jan 2009More news from Gaza: Massacre: 42 killed by Israeli shelling at UN school in Jabaliya Refugee Camp 6 Jan 2009 Unconventional weapons used against the people of Gaza 6 Jan 2009 Jabalia - 4th Jan 6pm - 5th Jan 5pm Sharon in Gaza + Interview with with Alberto Arce I.S.M 6 Jan 2009 | Activist describes attacks Ewa Jasiewicz in Gaza, BBC audio, 29 Dec 2008 | Cluster bombs, Depleted Uranium and White Phosphorus being used in Gaza - even right-wing newspapers talk of "war crimes" 4 Jan 2009 | Occupation forces targeting health workers, preventing medical aid to wounded 5 Jan 2009 | I expected an ambulance but a donkey cart carried the injured Ewa Jasiewicz in Gaza, 4 Jan 2009 | Occupation forces targeting health workers, preventing medical aid to wounded 5 Jan 2009 | Tel Aviv protests against the war Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), 5 Jan 2009 | International Solidarity Movement (ISM) stay in Gaza during ground operation 4 Jan 2009 | Ground invasion starts - ISM in the thick of it 3 Jan 2009 | Indian government gives US$100M to UN refugee body in Gaza 4 Jan 2009 | "Indiscriminate police brutality" at London protest UK 3 Jan 2009
News sources on school shelling, 6 Jan: Besieged families flee homes for shelter under UN flag Guardian | Dozens killed in Israeli strikes on UN schools in Gaza UN | BBC | Ma'an News Agency
Blogs by activists in Gaza: Tales to Tell | In Gaza
Videos: Multiple Israeli air strike on Rafah border with Egypt 2 Jan 2009 | Rage over Gaza - roundup of unrest in London, Athens, Paris 4 Jan 2009 | Protests for Gaza in Holland 4 Jan 2009
Comment: US Thwarts UN Gaza Ceasefire Call Cartoon by Latuff, 4 Jan 2009 | Israel Unleashes Chemical Weapons in Gaza Chris Floyd, 5 Jan 2009 | Israel: Bloody executioner for capitalism International Communist party, 4 Jan 2009