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| 5th May
1995 | Issue
21 | PDF
Justice? Brighton’s Campaign in Defiance of the Criminal
Injustice Act
SchNEWS
CJA ARRESTOMETER
Hunt Sabs 148
Footie Fans 44
Road Protestors 18
Travellers 11
Tree Defenders 11
Environmentalists 6
No Live Exports 3
Fascist Printers 2
Peace Campaigners 1
* at least 500 arrested under the 1986 Public Order Act this
year
SHAME!
AS BAILIFFS ATTACK
VILLAGE IN THE SKYEYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS FROM OUR PEOPLE 60 FEET UP
A TREE
"I have seen many
beautiful places get trashed in the name of progress, and I have
tried to force myself not to be gutted, but you never get used to
the sickening crunching sound that you hear when the trees crash
to the ground."
Mayday, Mayday and hundreds
of police, bailiffs and security guards moved in to evict 'the village
in the sky', as Stanworth Valley in Lancashire became the latest
battleground for the anti-roads movement.
The heavily wooded valley
carpeted in bluebells with the smell of wild garlic strong in the
air is home to birds such as Tawny Owls and Goldcrests. But it lies
in the path of the M65 which is being built to link East Lancashire
to the motorway network.
As SchNEWS went to press,
it was apparent that the (Under) sheriff and his men were becoming
increasingly frustrated about the slowness in evicting the tree-people.
As time goes by they are taking more and more risks endangering
themselves and protesters.
"It's mental, absolutely
mental. The sheriff is a liar and he is putting peoples lives at
risk. The bailiffs don't know what they're doing. One tree was felled
three foot from a tree-house, another branch hit an occupied treehouse.
One aerial walk-way was cut with someone still on who managed to
scramble off."
It looks set to the longest
eviction in post-war Europe, piling up the cost and showing the
authorities that they cannot expect to destroy our countryside without
determined opposition.
SECURITY COSTS
* Security £25,000 per day
* Police £100,000 this week
M65 LATEST
EVICTION CONTINUES -
MORE PEOPLE NEEDED UP THERE NOW.
Press barred from
protest site - BBC hire helicopter to film protest. People occupy
Under Sheriffs office demanding press allowed back in & an end
to heavy-handedness of bailiffs. At one point Group 4 - not bailiffs
evict people - fire bomb thrown by G4.
Anti-union laws to be
used a against protestors.
Arrests: 41
ENVIRONMENTALISTS
FALL FOUL OF CJA
Six people were nicked
for aggravated trespass at a Greenpeace demo at Sellafield, including
five Belgiums on top of a roof.At a later vigil held by the Shut
Sellafield Campaign another was arrested under the same charges.
Section 68 of the Criminal Justice Act (CIA) makes trespass an imprisonable
offence carrying fines of up to £3,000 or a three month sentence.
They've were all given
bail conditions threatening them with arrest if they go anywhere
near the lovely nuclear plant (guilty till proven innocent?) - this
has outraged campaigners who are only just coming across the draconian
bail conditions the police now impose, but comes as no surprise
to road and no live animal export protesters. Just more tactics
to keep us out of the way.
KEEP JULY 7th
FREE
The weather improves
and people start to think of the summer and festivals … Alas, gone
are the days of the free festival circuit, when as one event broke
up, the next gathering beckoned. Over the years they’ve been stamped
on by the authorities culminating in the freedom-lovers nightmare:
The Criminal Justice Act, with powers that can disrupt virtually
every stage of a festival goers movement and potentially make life
on the road, a hell on wheels.
So… getting enough people
together in one place, in a short space of time and making it a
major headache for the police to stop will probably take a great
deal of effort, so the plan is to go for one biggie on 7th
July. Keep this date free and pass it on.
*** Free party organisers
should contact Small World who are looking to do a film on the subject
0171 272 5255
Crap Arrest Of The
Week
A ten year old footie
fan has been reported to the police for touting after he sold his
match ticket ! Lee Jewess was given a comp1imentary ticket by Stoke
City after doing a soccer course at the club. He didn't want to
go to the game on his own, so thought he'd earn himself a little
extra pocket money by selling the ticket through the local paper
at £7 (it was worth £11). His dad then received a phone call from
Mike Potts, secretary of Stoke City informing him that this was
illegal under the Criminal Justice Act and his son would be reported
to the police! Lee said that it didn't say you couldn't sell it
on the ticket and he doesn't know what he's done wrong. Ahhh, the
Criminal Justice Act doesn't it make you sleep safer at night.
Call SchNEWS with your
crap arrest!
INSIDE SchNEWS
Jim Chambers still on
remand for alleged criminal damage to a road construction site PV2504,
HMP Pentonville Prison, Caledonian Rd, London N7 8TT.
John Livingstone, arrested
at the No M77 Pollok Free State in Glasgow.
Tracey Hart, on remand
for trumped up charges of criminal damage to perimeter fence of
Menwith Hill Spy Base in Yorkshire. Low Newton Women’s Prison, Brasside,
DH1 5SD.
Chris Cole is inside
for six months for breaking an injunction against British Aerospace
including writing a "Call for
Action" for a trespass
at the company PB0538, HMP Pentonville, Caledonian Rd., London,
N7 8TT
 
VigilantEs Day
It’s often said that
the history of a war is written by its victors and this is as true
of World War II as it is of any other. Indeed this government seems
to be going even further, trying to revive the 'Spirit of the Blitz'
as salve for a failing government, trying to ferment a wave of patriotism
and manipulating the celebrations to glorify itself, though the
idea of John Major as the next Winston Churchill doesn't quite fit.
What gets left out in this, as in all 'official' versions of history
is the experience of ordinary people which often tells an entirely
different story.
One such story is the
story of the Vigilantes' otherwise known as the 'Secret Committee
of ex –Servicemen’ founded in Brighton after the end of the first
world war to combat the Homelessness faced by ex-soldiers on their
return home. They revived themselves soon after VE Day and started
taking over empty houses in Brighton to house the wives and families
of returning servicemen and became the start of a massive squatting
campaign that spread across the country.
The Vigilantes were determined
that the soldiers who returned from the war would not face the raw
deal they were given after returning from the first when they had
faced homelessness and mass unemployment.
The Vigilantes were led
by a figure known as 'the Guv'nor' a local chimney sweep called
Harry Cowley, a veteran of local anti-fascist struggles and champion
of the unemployed. They started with about 40 members and began
working to find empty houses. Their first action was the squatting
of a house in Roundhill Crescent on the 29th of June, 1945 where
they housed a homeless sailor's wife and her two children. They
soon struck again seizing a long empty house in Freshfield road.
On Sunday, 8 July they held an open air meeting on the Level which
attracted several hundred people. By this stage they already had
400 members. Two days later members went up to a meeting in London
where a similar organisation was being formed, as well as in Clacton,
Hove, Worthing, and elsewhere.
The Vigilantes actions
were tremendously popular and their campaign continued apace. There
was widespread sympathetic and detailed press coverage of the movement
and they became a real threat to the (Churchill)government one of
whose last acts was to give local councils the power to requisition
all empty property- one of the principal demands of the Vigilantes.
They did not rest at this however. At the end of July Harry Cowley
told an open air meeting "Our job is not done, this is only the
beginning. We shall organise on a national basis and fight any form
of injustice and social anomaly which is brought to our notice".
From its beginnings in
Brighton the movement spread, disused Army camps were squatted up
and down the country and the movement culminated in a series of
high profile occupations of empty luxury hotels in London.
Despite massive popular
support and the fact that it housed thousands this movement is largely
unremembered today and certainly will not be remembered in official
commemorations. Yet its story needs to be told, both to ensure that
ordinary peoples stories are not forgotten and to provide with inspiration,
and a sense of history today.
SchNEWS IN BRIEF
The Erogenous Tribe have
gone DiY and taken over the previously empty Community Tree arid
Shrub Nurseries in Birmingham. The gardens are already in much better
shape and local people are getting involved in planting and ACTING
for a sustainable future. Go and see for yourself! The Tribe are
also putting together a comic and are looking for visuals and articles
012144955452
*** CONVICTION is the
newsletter helping fight for prisoners inside for crimes they have
not committed. Subscribe £5/£3 unwaged for four issues a year PO
Box 522, Sheffield, S1 3FF
*** DNA samples were
taken from hundreds of suspected burglars on Wednesday in one of
the biggest police operations ever mounted. The dawn raids on more
than 1,500 homes throughout southern England and Wales marked the
first mass use of new powers that allow police to take "genetic
fingerprints" from suspects. Police hope to have about 135,000 tests
on computer at a cost of £5 million in the first year alone, and
extend it to all recordable offences by the end of the century.
*** Friends and Families
of Travellers have been busy as the Criminal Justice Act eviction
merry-go-round picks up full steam and places to park up become
fewer and fewer.
*** CROWBOROUGH East
Sussex. Travellers who went to the High Court to challenge a councils
decision to evict them under the Criminal Justice Act have won a
stay of execution. The travellers managed to argue that the council
was failing its duty under the Children's Act. Contact Public Law
Group 0171 436 0964
*** TEMPLECOMBE, SOMERSET
Some travellers including a heavily pregnant women have been allowed
to stay on a travellers site in Somerset. This is a long used site
that is self-evicting due to flooding in the winter. The top end
has been occupied by a family of traditional gypsies for some years.
However, the site swelled in size due to a mass CJA eviction of
50 vehicles in Semley, Wiltshire at the of April, and the arrival
of a circus group who had been moved on three times in the previous
24 hours!
*** GLASTONBURYA small
group of travellers who had been given permission by Somerset Council
to stay on a site but left after being threatened by local farmers,
again came up against a farmer who threatened to drag their vehicles
off using tractors. He said the presence of a two week old baby
was no concern of his!
*** DORSET Another small
travelling group (with six children) some of whom work locally in
the construction industry were locked in a site by a farmer and
told their homes would be forcibly removed in the morning. The farmer
eventually unlocked the gate and the travellers moved off peacefully.
Just where are these people meant to go. Vanish into thin air? Friends
and Families of Travellers 01458 832 371
*** The International
Traders Ferry (ITF) - the people who run the live animal export
trade at Shoreham - are taking East Sussex police to court. The
police say they can't afford to be at Shoreham more than four days
a fortnight and last Friday turned back a lorry because of possible
trouble at the port. This was a staged operation by ITF who videoed
the operation and will show it in court to argue their case the
police acted illegally in stopping 'a legal, lawful trade' (sic)
01273 720 401
*** The Velvet Mushroom
Cafe, Cardiff’s squatted cafe has been given till the 12th May to
vacate the premises 01222 343 066
e-SchNEWS
pHreak BBS
- 0171 434 3800
Web. http://www.mistral.co.uk/cbuzzOr
email address below to be on e-mailout
Party and Protest
SAT 6th Oxford Anarchist
Bookfare. East Oxford CommunityCentre, Princes St., Cowley Rd,
SAT 6th Congress of the
Netwoiks. Gathering at Exodus Collective in Luton sharing info about
Agenda 21 01582 508 936
MON 8th Beacon Fire and
tree-dressing day Whitstable, Kent as a symbolic act to Kcnt County
Councils plans to carve a 12km road costing £65 million thru' the
Kent countryside. People/tools/supplies URGENTLY needed to occupy
trees, houses and air raid shelter along the route! 01635 521770
WED 10th Rio Tinto Zinc
(RTZ) AGM info + shares from PARTOZANS 0l7l 700 6189 (RTZ are the
biggest mining company in the world and complete bastards. They
would just love to see you)
THUR 11th Women’s Beltane
Walk. Info. Greenham Common womens peace camp 01374 136 728 (8 –9:30pm
only)THUR 11th AMEY AGM 01374 953160 (AMEY are the destroyers of
Solsbury Hill, Bath)
FRI 12-14th
Anti CJA DIY conference somewhere in Manchester including Liberty
legal briefing about CJA on the Saturday. 0171 738 6721
SUN 14th Reclaim The
Streets street petty! 0171 254 2290
Fri 19th-21st
Duneichan Free Festival, East coast of Scotland. Info SAE Andy c/o
Invergarry PO, Invergarry, Invernesshire.
THUR 18th SHELL AGM London
Earth First! 0171 254 2290THUR 18th Glasgow anti-car/road action
0141 946 2700FRI 19th - 28h Amazon Festival Menwith Hill Womens
Peacc Camp. Women only. 0585 329 313SUN 21st Mass trespass somewhere
near Lewes, East Sussex 01273 685913
and Finally
SchNEWS will be at Glastonbury
producing an on-site newspaper this year - any info for the issue
or leaflets to be distributed send to the SchNEWS address ASAP!We
were hoping to get press passes etc but press officer told us "the
local Glastonbury paper is doing the same kind of thing"
– somehow we doubt it! He added "the Times is more important
because it is read by the middle classes and we need to appeal to
them"!?! – yeah right!
For further copies of
the SchNEWS send stamps/donations (payable to Justice?) SchNEWS
c/o on-the-fiddle PO Box 2600 Brighton East Sussex . Tel: (01273)
685913. Or pick one up @ Peace Centre, Gardener St, Brighton and
around town e-mail: Justice?@intermedia.co.uk
Justice? meet every wednesday
7pm @ the (71) grand parade squat
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