The birth of Britain's environmental rebellion

[editor]

This is a great piece about the rise of the eco-protests in the UK.

With winter closing in, on Wednesday December 9, a construction contractor moved decisively to evict the protest camp on the down.

In the darkness of the winter dawn, the clutch of protesters sleeping in the camp awoke to the sight of around 100 private security guards swarming across the campsite, all dressed identically in high-visibility yellow jackets, without numbers to identify them.

“They seized us with a brutality that was shocking, at that time, for an environmental protest,” says Lush. “They dragged people by their hair, by their wrists across flint, openly punching men and women in the face. We were black and blue by the end.”

David Bellamy, who was a renowned English botanist and broadcaster, was at the camp researching a documentary. “I have been in many protests around the world,” he wrote. “… and have never seen such unreasonable force used... These boys were putting the boot and the fist in.”

In Newbury, 748 people were arrested for their role trying to protect 10,000 ancient trees from being torn down for a bypass The security costs ran into the millions: $34m on private security, $7m on policing. The evictions ran from January to April 1996. Research showed that after the road was opened in 1998, traffic congestion levels in Newbury were back up to pre-bypass levels within years of opening.

The birth of Britain’s environmental rebellion

The story of how activists fought a major 1990s road-building plan – and the lessons it holds for today’s climate movement.

www.aljazeera.com