UK Indymedia - UK Newswire Archive

Political policing protest Glasgow

08-01-2011 21:08

Brief summary of Saturdays protest

Ratcliffe Trial: Sentencing

08-01-2011 18:23

On Wednesday 5th January, the defendants in the Ratcliffe Trial were sentenced. The judge spoke highly of the defendants describing them as ""honest, sincere, conscientious, intelligent, committed, dedicated, caring"." Five were given community orders ranging from 18 to 90 hours to be carried out within 12 months. The remaining thirteen all received conditional discharges ranging from 18 months to 2 years. Most had no order for cost awarded against them. However, two of the defendants had to pay £1,000 and £500. A further 2 defendants had their sentencing deferred until January 18th.

A second trial begins on Monday 10th January, this time focusing on the police's pre-emptive arrest.

On the newswire: Ratcliffe Crown Court Trial 'Collected Report' PDF | Final statement from the Ratcliffe defendants | Ratcliffe Trial Day 16 – Return for Sentencing

Previous features: Mass Arrest of 114 Climate Activists in Raid | Ratcliffe Conspiracy Trial Begins | Ratcliffe Trial: Prosecution Opens | Ratcliffe Trial: Week 2 | Guilty verdict in Ratcliffe trial

At the conclusion of the trial on the 14th December 2010, all 20 defendants were found guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Trespass.

They were arrested in April 2009 during the biggest pre-emptive arrest in UK history. The 114 people were detained at Iona School, Sneinton, where they were involved in planning an operation to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station for a week. The facts were not disputed. Giving evidence, this was clearly there intention and that they were equipped to do it. The defence of necessity was employed in that they were acting to prevent a greater harm; death and serious injury to others as a direct consequence of climate changes bought about by the burning of fossil fuels, most notably coal.

Since being found guilty, His Honour Judge Teare had deferred sentencing until today awaiting reports. Two defendants have been further deferred until January 18th 2011.

It is reported that this trial and police costs add up to £700,000.

Miss Gerry for the prosecution said that a number of defendants did have previous convictions for offences relating to social and environmental matters. None relating to violent or acquisitive crime. She asked the Judge to award £5,000 costs against each defendant. When asked, the prosecution said that the actual prosecution costs against each defendant were £20,000.

In mitigation, Mr Ed Rees for the defences seeks to make some general points pertaining to all the defendants:

Mr Rees went on that all the defendants practice what they preach. All had engaged in the democratic and political process and not just in direct action and that this should further mitigate any sentencing. All the defendants have so many character and glowing personal testimonials by professions and peers and had many social concerns.

As to costs, Mr Rees says that the trial length was greatly reduced by defendants admissions. Hence only requiring one prosecution witness. He thus invites the court to take account of what is reasonable and just.

Some defendants were in receipt of a variety of benefits and disability / incapacity benefits and thus the prosecution asking for £5,000 would thus be unreasonable and unjust. Further, ome prosecution work and costs would be common to the next trial to be heard and thus this should also be taken into account.

All three barristers representing the defence then gave individual mitigations for each of their clients.

Returning after lunch the Judge Jonathan Teare makes a brief summary of the facts of the case. He agrees he is thwarted in his wish to make the defendants pay a larger proportion of the costs of the case because of their limited means. Further, with respect to those with previous convictions, he had been minded to give suspended prison sentences. However, after a little discussion, it turns out that as the maximum penalty of three months imprisonment, a £2,500 fine, or both. That this short sentence cannot be suspended.

Thus, dealing with sentencing, five were given community orders [unpaid work] ranging from 18 to 90 hours to be carried out within 12 months.

The remaining thirteen all received conditional discharges ranging from 18 months to 2 years. Most had no order for cost awarded against them. However, two of the defendants had to pay £1000 and £500.

The Judge added as he sentenced them: I have read a great deal about all of you since the trial concluded. There is not one of you who cannot provide glowing references from peers or professionals. And, if I may select, some of the adjectives that recur throughout they are these: honest, sincere, conscientious, intelligent, committed, dedicated and caring. You are all decent men and women with a genuine concern for others, and in particular for the survival of planet Earth in something resembling its present form. I have no doubt that each of you acted with the highest possible motives. And that is an extremely important consideration.

Judge Teare went on and said the protest had been well-considered and well-prepared. You had come from every corner of the country. Transport, food, clothing, climbing and safety equipment had been organised, costing several thousand pounds. Mobile phones, walkie-talkies, gas detectors, hard helmets, sleeping bags and sanitary facilities had all been provided. You had been organised into teams and briefed on your actions.

But while accepting the protest had been intended as a legitimate action by people who genuinely believed in their cause, the Judge said that their motives could not absolve them from punishment.

In concluding, the Judge said that never before had he dealt with so many defendant who were polite, committed and punctual during proceedings.

Two defendants have had sentencing deferred until January 18th 2011.

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Cold Winter? Global Warming?

08-01-2011 17:31

Could colder winters in U.S. & U.K. be partly result of low Summer Sea Ice? Why does the Jet Stream dip? Climate disruption interview with Dr. Jeff Masters, Meteorologist with The Weather Underground (wunderblog.com) - th 56th largest site on the Net. Also covered: Australian flooding, stormy future. From Radio Ecoshock Jan 7, 2010 24 minutes 6 MB.

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Has Headingley a new HEART

08-01-2011 17:22

The Headingley Development Trust (HDT) held the grand opening of HEART (Headingley Enterprise and Arts Centre). HEART is based in an old primary school in Leeds. The building is leased to HDT for 125 years and HEART, the project running the building, will provide a community centre for Headingley for 25 years. It is so clean and slick it is hard to distinguish it from a for-profit company.

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Press Release: Beyond Words: Silent Witness to Injustice

08-01-2011 16:42

Press release for London Guantanamo Campaign action to mark ninth anniversary of Guantanamo opening in 2002 on Tuesday 11 January

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Stroud Views & Burblings - new independent freesheet issue 1

08-01-2011 16:21

First launched earlier this week (Tuesday 4th Jan) to coincide with the rise in VAT, the newest freesheet in Stroud (following the 'Stroud Defector' back in the day and the 'Stroudie' circa 2001-2002) - Stroud Views & Burblings - a title based on local news rag Stroud News & Journal - got a proper airing today, as nearly 200 copies were handed out around town.

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Ratcliffe Crown Court Trial 'Collected Report' PDF

08-01-2011 15:23

Ratcliffe Crown Court Trial 'Collected Report' Nov 2010 - Jan 2011

The story so far ..... At the conclusion of the trial on the 14th December 2010, all 20 defendants were found guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Trespass.

They were arrested in April 2009 during the biggest pre-emptive arrest in UK history. The 114 people were detained at Iona School, Sneinton, where they were involved in planning an operation to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station for a week. The facts were not disputed. Giving evidence, this was clearly there intention and that they were equipped to do it. The defence of necessity was employed in that they were acting to prevent a greater harm; death and serious injury to others as a direct consequence of climate changes bought about by the burning of fossil fuels, most notably coal.

Since being found guilty, His Honour Judge Teare had deferred sentencing until today awaiting reports. Two defendants have been further deferred until the 18 January 2011.

It is reported that this trial and police costs add up to £700,000.

The Judge added as he sentenced them: I have read a great deal about all of you since the trial concluded. There is not one of you who cannot provide glowing references from peers or professionals. And, if I may select, some of the adjectives that recur throughout they are these: honest, sincere, conscientious, intelligent, committed, dedicated and caring. You are all decent men and women with a genuine concern for others, and in particular for the survival of planet Earth in something resembling its present form. I have no doubt that each of you acted with the highest possible motives. And that is an extremely important consideration.

Over three and a half weeks, all present in the court were informed of the facts by leading experts in the field. I received a three and half week seminar on the subject. Although I knew a thing or two about the issues before my involvement in the trial, I came away knowing far more. Further, my own sense of alarm has been significantly increased. Something must be done!

The problem is that the jury weren't so convinced as I was and didn't accept the defence. They didn't accept the idea of the democratic deficit. They still clearly believed that democratic means are sufficient to bring about the required changes and that the actions of these defendants were thus un-necessary.

There was never any dispute about the scientific facts and opinions presented during the trial. The prosecution didn't take on any of the experts in their evidence. They were thus all agreed. Action is required within a very few years to avert our arrival at the 'tipping points' much referred to. Points beyond which almost anything industries and governments do will no longer have any effect, since the materials causing changes have such a lag before their effects come into being. I can only guess that the jury was as alarmed as I was about some of this evidence, but they still didn't accept the need for urgent 'direct actions' by individuals on these matters. What I would call social responsibly in fact.

The jury are of course, representatives of the public. To make a sufficient difference to these issues, people must be informed and convinced of the need for action in large numbers, and shortly. The jury at the earlier Kingsnorth case were so convinced and acquitted those defendants.

Now, we can all cry about it. It should have been otherwise in this case too. How can I listen to the same evidence as they did and come to completely the opposite conclusions?

Those of us with concerns about all of this should make a better effort at 'sharpening our pencils' and trying to take millions more people with us in the need for more significant changes than we currently see. Direct action has to be an increasing component of this greater picture.

Another trial of 6 other people arrested during the police operations in April 2009. will be starting on Monday 10th January, 10am at Nottingham Crown Court.

As ever, I wish them the very best.

Will the last one alive on the planet, kindly turn the lights out!

http://ratcliffeontrial.org

Collected links to this reporting, as it progressed, can be seen at the last item in this series at:

2011 Nottingham Ratcliffe Trial Day 16 – Return for Sentencing
http://notts.indymedia.org.uk/articles/847

____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email:                 tash@indymedia.org
Web:                   http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
                                   It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
<ends>

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Time running out for North Kelvin Meadow

08-01-2011 15:22

“Time is running out to save an award winning community green space in Glasgow’s West End from Developers”. North Kelvin Meadow, a well used and supported greenspace in the heart of Glasgow’s West End is now the subject of a planning application to build 115 flats, which if successful, will mark the end of this well loved community initiative.

Urgent Action: insistent Black Eagles death threats against human rights and ind

08-01-2011 15:02

SMS text messaged Death Threats to Martha Giraldo and Aida Quilque

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Leeds Toxic incinerator meeting

08-01-2011 12:31

Toxic incinerator meeting / consultation.
Consultation in to the South Leeds Toxic waste incinerator .

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Subpoena Of Twitter Accounts Of WikiLeaks Supporters

08-01-2011 12:04

Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald reports that the Department of Justice has served Twitter with a subpoena seeking private information on several supporters of Wikileaks. The federal order, he says, is much broader than originally believed.

Says Greenwald:

The information demanded by the DOJ is sweeping in scope. It includes all mailing addresses and billing information known for the user, all connection records and session times, all IP addresses used to access Twitter, all known email accounts, as well as the "means and source of payment," including banking records and credit cards. It seeks all of that information for the period beginning November 1, 2009, through the present.

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City council rent bombshell for allotment holders

08-01-2011 11:23

Nottingham City Council is holding a consultation of changes to allotment tenancies, rent levels and plot allocation. They claim that the review "aims to encourage more people to get involved with growing food in Nottingham." In fact, the changes would involve the trebling of rents for allotments in Nottingham.

A skim read of the proposed changes to tenancy agreements does not reveal anything too controversial. In fact, a lot of the proposals are good ones (in principle) because they aim to deter the passing on of allotments to friends when there are people on the waiting list for new ones.

However, it is my view that these are not the core aims of the review. By far the biggest change to the current system is the proposed changes to rents for plots. The current figures, listed in a table in the consultation are: Ground rent - 7p/sqm, water charge - 6p/sqm (it doesn't say what the units are). However, they are proposing a gradual increase in grount rent so that, by 2016 it will be 20p/sqm for ground rent and 15p/sqm for water. This is a 180% increase for ground rent and 150% increase for water. These figures are well beyond the rate of inflation and will make allotment holding and growing your own food a much more costly activity.

Given the massive cut to their budget, it's not surprising that NCC are looking for ways to make money, especially as they claim to be trying to provide enough allotments for the increasing numbers of residents who want one. However, passing that cost on to existing allotment holders seems extremely unfair. Allotment holders, after all, are usually the people who can't afford houses with gardens and grow their own food to supply their food needs.

All allotment holders are being sent a consultation pack which they can use to object to the proposed changes. Given NCC's past record on consultations (ignoring the results they don't want, rigging them so they get the results they do) I don't imagine we'll get much positive interaction through bureaucratic routes. However, I'm sure there are more creative ways we could protest this unequitable move.

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January 15th-20 Years of War on Iraq 5.30 Gathering 7.30 Public Meeting *Vigil

08-01-2011 06:02

*Sponsored by Catholic Worker communities (Giuseppe Conlon House/ London, St Francis House/ Oxford, the CW Farmhouse/ Rickmansworth), "Harringey Soldiarity Group" and "Justice not Vengeance".
An initiative from D.C.

http://dccatholicworker.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/january-15-1991-january15-2011-20-years-of-u-s-war-on-iraq/ taken up in London,spreading across the world!

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Thessaloniki 4 solidarity: Trial starts 14 January

08-01-2011 01:22

June 2003 - EU Summit

The EU summit in Thessaloniki, Greece, sees huge mobilisations from anti-globalisation movements around the world. Aggressive police repression leads to over a hundred arrests, of which 29 are charged. Countless more protestors are badly injured, many hospitalised, by rubber bullets and baton charges. Out of 29 activists charged, most are released on bail in the days following the protests. The remaining 7 prisoners are remanded awaiting trial.

October 2003 - Solidarity with the Hunger Strikers

The prisoners begin hunger strikes demanding to be released from remand. Solidarity campaigns form around the world, against prisons and in support of the Thessaloniki 7. Literally hundreds of actions take place. The hunger strike continues until the 27th November when they are released on bail awaiting trial. Some of the remanded have at this point been refusing food for as long as 63 days.
February 2004 - Charges Dropped

In 2004 all charges are dropped in view of the overwhelming evidence in support of the defendants. Those who are not from Greece are finally allowed to leave the country.
Autumn 2005 - Charges Reinstated

The prosecutor of Thessaloniki appeals against the earlier decision to the drop the charges. Legal arguments continue for more than two years, and a trial date is finally set.
January 2008 - First Trial

The first trial takes place and finds the defendants guilty and passes sentences of between four and eight and a half years for charges including distinguished and repeated rebellion, possession of explosives, resisting arrest, and causing explosions.

September 2010 - Second Trial Adjourned

The second trial is adjourned until January 2011.

14 January 2011 - Second Trial Will Start

Out of the original Thessaloniki 7, 3 have so far had their cases resolved with sentences ranging from 4 to more than 8 years. The remaining four defendants are:

Simon Chapman, Britain
Suleiman "Kastro" Dakdouk, Syrian origin
Michaelis Triakapis, Greece
Fernando Perez Gorraiz, Spain

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Sheffield: "Close track" call after greyhound dies

08-01-2011 00:27

Dog fatally injured during race at Owlerton Stadium

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There are 43 potential New English Opencast Sites

07-01-2011 22:22

A group in Leicestershire has produced evidence about the current and possible future locations for opencast coal mining in England. In all it identifies 23 Current sites and 43 potential sites, including sites in Co Durham, Northumberland and Gateshead.The evidence is in the form of a two part review and it has been produced to support the arguments for the 500 Metre Buffer Zone Bill which gets its 2nd Reading in the House of Commons on 11/2/11.

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A new fighting force for animals launched

07-01-2011 22:02

A new fighting force for animals has been launched in West Sussex.

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Nottm Animal Rights Events

07-01-2011 20:23

Welcome to 2011

Current issues includes 11th January deadline to oppose plans for Nocton Mega-Dairy; the status of Paul Smith furs sales; Secret whaling deal plotted by US and Japan; and more

Welcome to 2011

11th January deadline to oppose plans for Nocton Mega-Dairy

NOCTON Dairies has resubmitted its planning application for a 3770 cow dairy farm in Lincolnshire, intending to increase the capacity to 8,100 if it can get away with it. Oppose the plans at
http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/mega-dairy/object.html

If it goes ahead, it will be the largest in the UK and will imprison 3,770
cows in sheds with concrete floors over 22 acres. The farm will have 24hr
milking parlours and will produce 430,000 pints of milk daily.

Not only will this be a breeding ground for disease and cause a huge
amount of suffering to the imprisoned animals, is will also mean the
destruction of a wonderful landscape in which plenty of wild birds and
other animals live.

This is a call to anyone against this monstrosity to make their voices heard!

Nocton Dairy - Google News http://bit.ly/avsAfX

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Broadway cinema want opinions on their café-bar. Use survey at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/broadwaycafebar to suggest more vegan
options!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Week of action against Beyond Retro
Monday 10th January 2011 to Friday 14th January

Unless their new year’s resolution is to go fur free, Beyond Retro will be
entering 2011 with a headache!

Activists around the world have been campaigning against this unethical
company for a number of months now, with protests at the head office and
stores in London, their Brighton store and demonstrations at the home of
the managers in Canada.

However, Beyond Retro has continued to make a profit from the skins of
tortured animals, so it’s time to remind them that cruelty has
consequences!

We are also asking people to contact Beyond Retro (via phone and email)
during the week of action, so even if you can’t attend any protests, you
can still help us to keep the pressure on them.

Check http://www.caft.org.uk/BRetro/ for further information!

------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile we are still monitoring the situation re Paul Smith who has
promised to withdraw fur from his stores, but we are awaiting final
confirmation.

If you do facebook (why would you!) add your comment at
http://www.facebook.com/paulsmithdesign/posts/176441529050623

Follow Campaign for a fur free Nottingham news at
http://furfreenotts.weebly.com/
(note the Pauls Smiths link is broken - use the one above)

Check for future demos at http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=785

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WikiLeaks: Secret whaling deal plotted by US and Japan

American diplomats proposed Japan reduce whaling in exchange for US help cracking down on the anti-whaling activists Sea Shepherd, leaked cables reveal.

More at NAR Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/NottinghamAR

-------------------------------------------------------

All this and more may be discussed at the next Nottm AR Meeting at Sumac
next Thursday. It would be great to welcome you if you have not been along
for a while.

See http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=1430

btw

________________________________________________

- - - - - - Nottingham Animal Rights - - - - - -

c/o Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street, Nottingham NG7 6HX
Ph: 0845 458 9595 / mobile:0787 086 1837
Email: nar@veggies.org.uk Website : http://www.veggies.org.uk/nar

Nottingham Animal Rights newslist: http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/nar

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Earth First! winter moot 2011

07-01-2011 20:06

Earth First! Winter Moot 2011 - February 4th, 5th and 6th - Sumac Centre, Nottingham

Come along if you want to plot and plan with others involved in ecological direct action from around the country

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Connecting oil slicks to tuition fee rises

07-01-2011 20:05

A lot of people have protested against tuition fee rises but many of them thought the Liberal Democrats were to the problem. But tuition fee rises are connected to the rot at the heart of our political systems.