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PROTESTS
Power station protesters released on bail
Nottinghamshire police say 114 suspects posed 'serious threat' to Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 April 2009
The 114 people arrested for allegedly planning to target a power station were released on bail, police said today.
Scores of officers swooped on a school in Sneinton, Nottingham, yesterday, saying the suspects posed "a serious threat" to the safe running of the nearby Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant.
Those arrested have now been interviewed and released on bail, a spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire police said today.
She added: "Police have gathered a large amount of evidence which they are now reviewing.
"From the information gathered, police believe that those arrested were planning a period of prolonged disruption to the safe running of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.
More than 200 police officers from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and British Transport police were involved in the arrests at the Iona school, Sneinton, shortly after midnight yesterday.
Neighbours described how 20 police vans and a number of cars swooped on the school grounds in the early hours.
Those arrested were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass and criminal damage.
A police spokesman said "specialist equipment" recovered during the raid led them to believe the coal-fired Ratcliffe power station was the intended target.
The force said some of the suspects were linked to a group that had protested at Kingsnorth power station in Kent, Heathrow airport and Drax power station in North Yorkshire.
The spokesman added: "Information received during the operation indicates that a number of those arrested may be linked to a group of climate change protesters who have set up climate camps."
A spokesman for Camp for Climate Action, which has protested at both power stations, Heathrow airport and the G20 summit in London earlier this month, refused to comment last night.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar site is run by energy firm E.ON, which has been forced to deal with protests by environmental campaigners in the past. On the Camp for Climate Action website, the group pledged today to "keep a close eye" on E.ON.
It was previously targeted by members of Eastside Climate Action, although the group denied any involvement in the latest suspected plot.
Last October, activists occupied part of Kingsnorth following an amphibious invasion. A year earlier, a team climbed to the top of its chimney stack.
A spokeswoman for E.ON said: "We can confirm that Ratcliffe power station was the planned target of an organised protest.
"While we understand that everyone has a right to protest peacefully and lawfully, this was clearly neither of those things so we will be assisting the police with their investigations into what could have been a very dangerous and irresponsible attempt to disrupt an operational power plant."
Nottinghamshire police say 114 suspects posed 'serious threat' to Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 April 2009
The 114 people arrested for allegedly planning to target a power station were released on bail, police said today.
Scores of officers swooped on a school in Sneinton, Nottingham, yesterday, saying the suspects posed "a serious threat" to the safe running of the nearby Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant.
Those arrested have now been interviewed and released on bail, a spokeswoman for Nottinghamshire police said today.
She added: "Police have gathered a large amount of evidence which they are now reviewing.
"From the information gathered, police believe that those arrested were planning a period of prolonged disruption to the safe running of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station.
More than 200 police officers from Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Staffordshire and British Transport police were involved in the arrests at the Iona school, Sneinton, shortly after midnight yesterday.
Neighbours described how 20 police vans and a number of cars swooped on the school grounds in the early hours.
Those arrested were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass and criminal damage.
A police spokesman said "specialist equipment" recovered during the raid led them to believe the coal-fired Ratcliffe power station was the intended target.
The force said some of the suspects were linked to a group that had protested at Kingsnorth power station in Kent, Heathrow airport and Drax power station in North Yorkshire.
The spokesman added: "Information received during the operation indicates that a number of those arrested may be linked to a group of climate change protesters who have set up climate camps."
A spokesman for Camp for Climate Action, which has protested at both power stations, Heathrow airport and the G20 summit in London earlier this month, refused to comment last night.
The Ratcliffe-on-Soar site is run by energy firm E.ON, which has been forced to deal with protests by environmental campaigners in the past. On the Camp for Climate Action website, the group pledged today to "keep a close eye" on E.ON.
It was previously targeted by members of Eastside Climate Action, although the group denied any involvement in the latest suspected plot.
Last October, activists occupied part of Kingsnorth following an amphibious invasion. A year earlier, a team climbed to the top of its chimney stack.
A spokeswoman for E.ON said: "We can confirm that Ratcliffe power station was the planned target of an organised protest.
"While we understand that everyone has a right to protest peacefully and lawfully, this was clearly neither of those things so we will be assisting the police with their investigations into what could have been a very dangerous and irresponsible attempt to disrupt an operational power plant."
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Davy King on -
Workers march in May Day rallies
Labour unions in dozens of countries around the world are using traditional May Day marches to protest over the handling of the global economic crisis.
Some 300 rallies are planned across France, which has already seen strikes from university academics, hospital staff and fishermen among others.
Germany is braced for further violence after youths in Berlin clashed with riot police in the early hours.
Marches have been held in several Asian nations, including Cambodia and Japan.
Bottles and stones
This year's traditional Labour Day in France comes against a backdrop of mounting social tension, the BBC's Paris correspondent Emma Jane Kirby reports.
Protesters in Compiegne. Photo: March 2009
Economic woes fuel French anger
There is a growing perception that little has been done to protect the ordinary person's job and wages while executives from banks bailed out by the government have enjoyed generous pay-offs and bonuses, she says.
The country's eight main unions have urged people to come out and protest in their third such day of action this year.
Violence erupted in Berlin overnight when some 200 protesters began chanting anti-capitalism slogans after a street party ended in a district of the Germany capital.
They threw bottles and stones at the police, passing cars and trams and set several rubbish bins alight, police said.
Twenty-nine police were injured, and at least 12 people were arrested.
Violence has been a feature of past May Days in Germany. Some 5,000 police are set to be deployed in Berlin.
Workers in Cambodia, the Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong have been marching to mark May Day.
Elsewhere in Europe, large demonstrations are being planned in Spain, Greece and Turkey.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8028237.stm
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Permalink Reply by Davy King on
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Powerful images of the riots in Greece, December 2008:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/2008_greek_riots.html
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