Campers at the No Border camp near Gatwick, spent the morning putting finishing touches to the campsite, and after lunch attended a variety of workshops. Topics included an overview of detention centres in the UK, activist trauma, FIT Watch, and a presentation by the Israeli Anarchists Against The Wall.
Police presence outside the camp has been fairly low key, and the new shift brought with it CO2558, Steve Discombe of the Met's Forward Intelligence Team, whose boredom has been relieved by various Fit Watch activities. Vehicles are being allowed in and out unimpeded, although the police are doing what they can to photograph all those who enter.
Since the workshops ended at 4pm, campers have been making their way to Crawley Town Centre, where they are engaged in meeting local people, handing out flyers and a free paper, the Gatwick X-press in order to publicise the action and the reasons behind it to local people.This may go some way to countering the disinformation printed in a front page article in the local paper, the Mid Sussex Times. Entitled "Safety fears as demonstrators camp in village", the article outlines the concerns of a local councillor, before going on to explain the issues behind the camp.
After meeting with local people, campers will move onto a gig near Crawley station to listen to bands and share food.