Last weekend a thousand protestors descended on Ratcliffe-On-Soar power station to protest against the continued use of coal power, which is one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions.

The weeks leading up had been filled with outreach and preparation with neighbourhoods, groups and individuals working tirelessly towards making the Great Climate Swoop a monumental event.

The action was a huge success for the movement, fences were scaled, camps were made, banners dropped, a railway blockaded, and the power station was effectively seiged for 24 hours.  With one of the prominent aims to create a social movement, the Climate Camp also showed it is a force to be reckoned with, as hundreds of people were prepared to use direct action and face arrest to make their point.

The weekend didn’t have the best start with the police using preemptive measures to arrest an activist from Leeds and charging him with conspiracy. Plane Stupid were also called and threatened with arrest if they attended the protest, which was a sign that the police were not even prepared to allow people to think about taking meaningful action.

Undaunted, on Friday night and Saturday activists from all over the country arrived at and around Ratcliffe. As the sun rose and the helicopter circled, huddled groups came across each other in woods and the surrounding area. Giving each other a nod and a grin at the impending action, people from the two blocs, ‘Take back the power’ and ‘False Solutions’, then made their way to the muster point.

At the same time, a few miles away, the bloc ‘False Solutions’ was being created with hundreds of protestors, as well as a critical mass of cyclists arriving at Nottingham train station.

At one o’clock everybody, organised, excited and nervous, swooped to the power station. Hundreds of protestors descended from the woods on mass, splitting up at the fences, some tearing, climbing and pulling down the barriers.

A handful of activists even managed to get over several fences and into the power station before they were arrested. With E.ON spending 5 million on new electric fences weeks before, as well as bringing out an injunction to give the police powers to arrest anyone they felt like, it was never going to be an easy task.

A procession with banners, bikes, chants and noise rallied further around and made their voices be heard. Second swoops, rallies, makeshift camps and actions continued throughout the day and the £600,000 police force were kept on their toes whilst using riot gear and letting dogs off their leads to tackle the protestors. Dog bites only added to the range of injuries and concussions inflicted by the police. Medical care was very slow to come, if ever. Apart from the one police injury where a helicopter was quickly scrambled and zoomed off to create a cleverly crafted PR campaign for the London based media sitting in their offices.

A cat and mouse game continued through the evening and into the night, with 300 protestors managing to camp overnight, keeping a vigil on the power station. They were kept in spirits by Veggies who did an amazing job of providing food and drinks to the camp.

The movement is being replicated all over the world, with actions in Australia, that we covered here at Amelia’s Magazine, as well as in Denmark and beyond. Climate camps are being set up all over the world creating grassroots movements essential to combat the rise of climate change by putting pressure on governments and corporations.

The recent back out by E.ON from creating two new coal power stations at Kingsnorth as well as the end to plans for a 3^rd runway at Heathrow, which were coincidentally both venues for past Climate Camps, show that we can really make change.

At the weekend activists from around the world also met in Copenhagen to finalise plans for similar actions during the UN climate talks taking place in December. These talks are seen as the stage for social movements worldwide to show a precedent to governments around the world that we need to take action into our own hands. The Camp for Climate Action will be there, so should you.

Written by Adam S on Thursday October 22nd, 2009 2:26 pm

Tags:

action, banner, Climate Camp, Climate Change, coal power, Copanhagen, Direct Action, dog bite, E-On, False Solutions, fences, helicopter, injury, march, Pictures, police, protest, Ratclife-On-Soar Power Station, Ratcliffe On Soar, social movement, swoop, The Great Climate Swoop

Similar Posts:

• The Great Climate Swoop – the mass action of the year!
• Shutting down Didcot Power Station
• Blackheath Climate Camp 2009
• Climate Camp: Where do we go from here?
• UK Uncut, Green & Black Cross, Black Bloc & the March for the Alternative.