Update: At 4:30 am after 48 hours of protest, the remaining 10 came down from the roof of Didcot Power station and were arrested.
Early on Monday morning, activists entered a NPower coal fired plant in Didcot. A group chained themselves to the coal conveyor, and prevented coal from entering the power station, although a report indicates that those chained to the conveyor were cut loose and arrested. Others erected tents on the roof and have climbed chimneys, and have spent two nights up there.
In associated actions, work was stopped at two open cast mines on Monday. Twenty activists entered the site at Shipley which provides coal to Ratcliffe-on-Soar, and climbed onto vehicles, which they occupies, stopping work on the site for 4.5 hours. Mainshill, site of an ongoing protest camp was blockaded for seven hours. After action to stop night time felling on Monday, another blockade was mounted on Tuesday.
Updates from Inside Didcot
text sent at 18h31: 3 arrests in the last hour from the coal conveyor crew.
Text sent at 15h10: No arrests yet. there are still people locked onto the coal conveyor preventing coal from getting into the power station. People are occupying the chimney. Three of the units have turned to gas and teh fourth is not operational. Post Kingsnorth NPower have taken the lead position in pushing new coal in the uk. Over the next couple of weeks, they are seeking planning permission for a new coal fired power station in Scotland. This is the beginning of a massive campaign against them.
Text sent at 13h12: Sorry climber came down from flue because it's still running on oil.
Text sent at 12h18: People locked onto coal conveyor for 7 hours now. Climbers on top of chimney going into switched off flue to keep it off.
Text sent at 11h32: Unfortunately it appears that power is still being generated. We are currently putting tents up on the roof of the power station and we have climbers scaling the flues.
Comments
Hide the following 7 comments
Well done!
26.10.2009 19:19
Another job well done.
We wish you all the best and fully support your Direct Action.
from
Adam S. Margetts
e-mail:
thearcproject@riseup.net
Homepage:
http://www.thearcproject.co.uk
Very nice piece of work
27.10.2009 00:09
John
well done dudes
27.10.2009 16:55
fantastic stuff. great action, great planning and great courage. You have it all!
well done. your actions are inspirational.
superduper
any updates?....
27.10.2009 19:49
viral
update from this evening
28.10.2009 00:49
follower
Homepage:
http://earthfirst.org.uk
No mention of any viable alternatives to coal, or of the Copenhagen summit
29.10.2009 08:35
Do these protestors support nuclear power or not ?
Why are they not confronting Ed Miliband and Mandleson and their civil servants and energy industry lobbyists, 24 hours a day. 7 days a week up to the Copenhagen summit ?
That is where the decisions and "compromises" are more likely to be made, rather than on the roof of a power station in the middle of the countryside.
.
unimpressed
The problem is all energy use - not just coal
03.11.2009 11:37
However, why is the underlying message about coal only? It should be about our over use of energy. We will cause just as much climate change if we change to another energy source. For example, biomass burning has been shown to lead to even greater emissions than coal as well as directly impacting on biodiversity. Let's make the message from these actions be about Power Down not about one particular energy source.
Less Energy!