Anti-road campaigners peacefully resisting camp evictions (16 Jan)

January 16, 2013 by combehavendefenders

[Update, 5.59pm, Wed 16 Jan: Combe Haven protest camps held out against eviction today! Two treehouses and (at least) one tunnel still occupied at main camp. Five arrests so far. Bailiffs and police have gone home. More support and legal observers needed tonight / early tomorrow (Thursday 17 Jan) morning. Please head for Decoy Camp, nr Decoy Pond – see map below.]

The eviction of the two remaining camps (“Base camp” and “Decoy Pond Wood” – see here and below for maps) has begun, and campaigners are resisting peacefully in treehouses and tunnels. Please protest, support and publicise!

Bailiffs arrived just before 8am, and the eviction proper began around 8.15am. As at 8.37am there were 30+ bailiffs on site with more security arriving, focussing mainly on the tunnel(s). As at 8.59am it was no longer possible to access the camp via the access road to Adam’s farm (though other cross-country routes may still be available), and Harris fencing was being brought in.

Please note: This is only the end of the beginning for the protests against the Bexhill Hastings Link Road (BHLR)! We urgently need to replenish our finances following the last month of protests, so please consider giving a donation, using the “donate” button on our web-site and Facebook page, if you are able.

Photo taken by one of the activists locked-on up a tree this morning (Wednesday 16 Jan).

The route to the Camp

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Press release Combe Haven Defenders [1]
Wednesday 16 January
Contact 07926 423 033

EVICTION OF ANTI-ROAD CAMP NEAR HASTINGS HAS STARTED
Protestors resisting peacefully in treehouses and tunnels

Wednesday 16 January, 8.16am: Opponents of the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road (BHLR) are defending trees and  occupying tunnels at their main protest camp in Crowhurst. Security guards and bailiffs, supported by police, began attempts to evict the camp at 8am today.

The main camp, which has been in place since 21 December, is located on the proposed route of the BHLR close to Adam’s Farm, Crowhurst [2]. Further trees on route are occupied by protestors at nearby “Decoy Camp”.

The peaceful protests against the road– which have now been running for a month, with 12 arrests – have seized national attention over the past week [3].

Tree-felling work for the road started on 14 December 2012 and represents the first significant work on the highly-controversial £100m road, one of over forty “zombie roads” that were declared dead years ago but have now been resuscitated as part of as part of Britain’s largest road-building programme in 25 years [4, 5].

Contact 07926 423 033

NOTES
[1] http://www.combehavendefenders.org.uk
[2] Nearby postcode TN33 9AY. For map see https://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/camp-groundrules-directions/
[3] https://combehavendefenders.wordpress.com/recent-media-coverage/
[4] See ‘Controversial ‘zombie roads’ scheme to be resuscitated’, Guardian, 10 October 2012, http://tinyurl.com/zombieroads
[5] http://bettertransport.org.uk/media/26-Oct-roads-report