FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Saturday 09/08/08
Protesters Evade 26 Police Forces To Enter Power Station Site
Protesters Evade 26 Police Forces To Enter Power Station Site
The Climate Camp at Kingsnorth was celebrating today as protesters succeeded in
breaching the perimeter fence and inner 10,000 volt electric fence to enter the power
station site despite the best efforts of 26 police forces with over 1,500 police.
The day started early with a flotilla of boats – the Blue group - sailing towards Kingsnorth
in the sun. Over twenty crafts made their way up the Medway to converge on the coal
loading jetty. Three people occupied the ledge above the power station's water inlet
tunnel while a banner proclaiming 'CO2AL: Starter Gun for Climate Chaos' was hung from
Darnet Fort on an island in the Medway directly opposite the power station.
Kent Police have been claiming that they had to rescue rafters from the Medway, but the
participants have stated that the safety precautions they had taken were entirely
sufficient and at no point were they in any danger. “Its a bit cheeky for the police to say
that we had to be rescued when for starters we weren't in any danger, and secondly, they
were the ones who had confiscated our safety boat this morning,” said Rebel Rafter
Harold Cryer. “The River Police were very professional and courteous, unlike their landlubbing
equivalents.”
Meanwhile, around 1,000 people from the Orange group headed from the Camp directly to
the main gates at Kingsnorth, led by a colourful carnival dragon made by children during
the camp. At the gates the Camp's Christian Cafe crew held a service giving the power
station its last rites. The group blocked the main entrance even after a police helicopter
circling above had demanded the marchers disperse.
The few hundred strong Green group made it to the perimeter fence of the power station.
Some used a section of fencing to make a ladder to breach both the outer and the inner
electric fence. Others climbed a nearby pylon to hang a banner reading 'Shut Down
Kingsnorth'(2).
Spokeswoman Emily Davies said, “It shows how serious we are about stopping climate
change that people from all walks of life were prepared, despite blatantly intimidatory
policing, to take direct action to disrupt E.ON. This Olympic effort certainly deserves a
gold medal.”
Campers have been signing pledges to return to Kingsnorth if Minister for Business John
Hutton gives E.ON the go-ahead to build the first coal-fired power station in the UK for 30
years. They promise to take action against E.ON and other companies until they abandon
all such plans. Elsewhere in the country people are currently down in tunnels resisting
eviction of a protest camp on the site of a proposed open-cast coal mine in Derbyshire.
“It's been a great today, but a real victory for us will be when we have conclusively
scuppered E.ON's coal-fuelled mania. If Hutton gives the green light to this power plant,
E.ON can expect to be seeing a lot more of us in the future,” said Ewa Steckel, who has
signed one of the pledges to stop the plant.
Bizarrely, Malcolm Wicks, Energy Minister stated yesterday that we need Kingsnorth to
counter catastrophic climate change. (1). Campers reacted furiously, “Malcolm Wicks'
claim that building an unabated coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth is necessary to
save us from climate change shows him to be delusional and dangerously scientifically
illiterate. ” said camper Ania Kemp.
ENDS
Contacts:
07772 861 099 and 07932 096 677
(1) See interview in today's Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/08/carboncapturestorage.fossilfuels
Q Patrick Wintour, Guardian: But why does the government not set a cut off point, such as
2020, by which time coal stations such as Kingsnorth would be shut if the clean coal
technology was not in use?
A: Malcolm Wicks: "I think if we did that at the moment, when we do not know 100% that
CCS is going to work, the engineering has not yet been tested and no one is fully aware of
what the costs might be, then that would put an end to coal-fired power stations and
demonstration plant and people would build gas again."
(2) photos are available from www.indymedia.org.uk
breaching the perimeter fence and inner 10,000 volt electric fence to enter the power
station site despite the best efforts of 26 police forces with over 1,500 police.
The day started early with a flotilla of boats – the Blue group - sailing towards Kingsnorth
in the sun. Over twenty crafts made their way up the Medway to converge on the coal
loading jetty. Three people occupied the ledge above the power station's water inlet
tunnel while a banner proclaiming 'CO2AL: Starter Gun for Climate Chaos' was hung from
Darnet Fort on an island in the Medway directly opposite the power station.
Kent Police have been claiming that they had to rescue rafters from the Medway, but the
participants have stated that the safety precautions they had taken were entirely
sufficient and at no point were they in any danger. “Its a bit cheeky for the police to say
that we had to be rescued when for starters we weren't in any danger, and secondly, they
were the ones who had confiscated our safety boat this morning,” said Rebel Rafter
Harold Cryer. “The River Police were very professional and courteous, unlike their landlubbing
equivalents.”
Meanwhile, around 1,000 people from the Orange group headed from the Camp directly to
the main gates at Kingsnorth, led by a colourful carnival dragon made by children during
the camp. At the gates the Camp's Christian Cafe crew held a service giving the power
station its last rites. The group blocked the main entrance even after a police helicopter
circling above had demanded the marchers disperse.
The few hundred strong Green group made it to the perimeter fence of the power station.
Some used a section of fencing to make a ladder to breach both the outer and the inner
electric fence. Others climbed a nearby pylon to hang a banner reading 'Shut Down
Kingsnorth'(2).
Spokeswoman Emily Davies said, “It shows how serious we are about stopping climate
change that people from all walks of life were prepared, despite blatantly intimidatory
policing, to take direct action to disrupt E.ON. This Olympic effort certainly deserves a
gold medal.”
Campers have been signing pledges to return to Kingsnorth if Minister for Business John
Hutton gives E.ON the go-ahead to build the first coal-fired power station in the UK for 30
years. They promise to take action against E.ON and other companies until they abandon
all such plans. Elsewhere in the country people are currently down in tunnels resisting
eviction of a protest camp on the site of a proposed open-cast coal mine in Derbyshire.
“It's been a great today, but a real victory for us will be when we have conclusively
scuppered E.ON's coal-fuelled mania. If Hutton gives the green light to this power plant,
E.ON can expect to be seeing a lot more of us in the future,” said Ewa Steckel, who has
signed one of the pledges to stop the plant.
Bizarrely, Malcolm Wicks, Energy Minister stated yesterday that we need Kingsnorth to
counter catastrophic climate change. (1). Campers reacted furiously, “Malcolm Wicks'
claim that building an unabated coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth is necessary to
save us from climate change shows him to be delusional and dangerously scientifically
illiterate. ” said camper Ania Kemp.
ENDS
Contacts:
07772 861 099 and 07932 096 677
(1) See interview in today's Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/08/carboncapturestorage.fossilfuels Q Patrick Wintour, Guardian: But why does the government not set a cut off point, such as
2020, by which time coal stations such as Kingsnorth would be shut if the clean coal
technology was not in use?
A: Malcolm Wicks: "I think if we did that at the moment, when we do not know 100% that
CCS is going to work, the engineering has not yet been tested and no one is fully aware of
what the costs might be, then that would put an end to coal-fired power stations and
demonstration plant and people would build gas again."
(2) photos are available from www.indymedia.org.uk
