The "Parklife" Campaign Group fighting to save the irreplaceable Saxon king's burial site and 113 trees occupied the DfT on Tuesday 16th August. This is the story of the protest.
Occupying the DfT
Tuesday 16th August was an incredible day for our little
campaign group from Southend on Sea. As some of you
may now be aware we staged the latest in our series of 'Save
Priory Park!' direct actions today, for the first time
yet with the chosen venue being in the centre of
London.
At 10.40am Tuesday morning, a small team of activists
from the group, tailed by a London Tonight film crew
and independent videographers, entered the Department
for Transport (DfT) main office lobby on Marsham
Street, locking down for an inside occupation that ran
into the early afternoon.
The DfT is due to make a decision regarding funding
for the F5 road scheme imminently, so we took action
to draw media and public attention to the decision
makers, to try to influence the process, and to show
that the people of our town - plus our great friends
from further afield - feel strongly enough to take
direct action as need be to stop the road.
In conjunction with the inside team, who deployed
handcuffs and lock on equipment to stay in position, a
larger group unfurled two 12' banners outside the
entrance, in addition to posters depicting finds from
the threatened East Saxon king's burial site. This
enabled us to maintain public engagement throughout
the event, as the access doors to the DfT were
promptly locked after our arrival.
Negotiations ensued, with the office being unwilling
to speak to the inside team, unless we first took the
decision to leave the building. Our stance was agreed
to be that we would only unlock if a senior
representative from the DfT spoke to us in person,
otherwise we would have to be forcibly removed by the
authorities.
Eventually after a polite stand off that lasted for
over two hours, the Metropolitan Police were called
and we were given one final opportunity to go at
around 1.00pm. We were then ejected from the building,
whilst still being locked together as we had been for
the duration of the event.
Although being threatened with various possible
charges including a breach of the peace - even after
our forced relocation outside - we chose to stay and
continue the protest to maximise our impact, with
lunchtime office workers taking much interest in the
proceedings. Surprisingly for us, and in light of all
of the above, no arrests were made.
Looking back for once, we have come a long way since
we formed Parklife in June 2001. We have shown yet
again that local people can empower themselves, by
taking action to stand up for what they believe in. We
remain a single issue and highly focused
campaign/action group, but at the same time we hope
that people will say, 'If they can do it then we can!'
campaign group from Southend on Sea. As some of you
may now be aware we staged the latest in our series of 'Save
Priory Park!' direct actions today, for the first time
yet with the chosen venue being in the centre of
London.
At 10.40am Tuesday morning, a small team of activists
from the group, tailed by a London Tonight film crew
and independent videographers, entered the Department
for Transport (DfT) main office lobby on Marsham
Street, locking down for an inside occupation that ran
into the early afternoon.
The DfT is due to make a decision regarding funding
for the F5 road scheme imminently, so we took action
to draw media and public attention to the decision
makers, to try to influence the process, and to show
that the people of our town - plus our great friends
from further afield - feel strongly enough to take
direct action as need be to stop the road.
In conjunction with the inside team, who deployed
handcuffs and lock on equipment to stay in position, a
larger group unfurled two 12' banners outside the
entrance, in addition to posters depicting finds from
the threatened East Saxon king's burial site. This
enabled us to maintain public engagement throughout
the event, as the access doors to the DfT were
promptly locked after our arrival.
Negotiations ensued, with the office being unwilling
to speak to the inside team, unless we first took the
decision to leave the building. Our stance was agreed
to be that we would only unlock if a senior
representative from the DfT spoke to us in person,
otherwise we would have to be forcibly removed by the
authorities.
Eventually after a polite stand off that lasted for
over two hours, the Metropolitan Police were called
and we were given one final opportunity to go at
around 1.00pm. We were then ejected from the building,
whilst still being locked together as we had been for
the duration of the event.
Although being threatened with various possible
charges including a breach of the peace - even after
our forced relocation outside - we chose to stay and
continue the protest to maximise our impact, with
lunchtime office workers taking much interest in the
proceedings. Surprisingly for us, and in light of all
of the above, no arrests were made.
Looking back for once, we have come a long way since
we formed Parklife in June 2001. We have shown yet
again that local people can empower themselves, by
taking action to stand up for what they believe in. We
remain a single issue and highly focused
campaign/action group, but at the same time we hope
that people will say, 'If they can do it then we can!'
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