Activists outside the Vestas factory on the St Cross Business Park, Dodnor Lane, Newport, Isle of Wight have been tipped off that Tuesday 22nd September at 12 noon a ‘Blade Runner’ barge is coming down the river Medina to the Vestas factory from Southampton to pick up some of the remaining blades still inside the factory. Those present expect a big police presence along with big support from other supporters and activists. They claim they are prepared to do anything and everything to stop Vestas from shipping these blades or from getting anything into the factory if that’s their plan.
The new Marine Gate (/’Magic Swings’) camp is a very beautiful place to wake up / not go to bed! Riverside views, from a Penthouse Tripod for those with strong arms and no sense of vertigo. In the shadow of a mighty Oak, and situated along the Newport-Cowes cyclepath – a fine stretch of Sustrans, wooded, snaking along the river, a mermaid statue and solar powered lights to guide you…
Fireside chats into the night are full of inspiration. Nearby skips magically produce goods wished for, while pixies frolic in the moonless nights. There are field kitchens at both camps, but the Magic Roundabout houses the ‘Roundabout 8 Restaurant’ – so called because voluntary vegan donation dinner is served, around about eight pm (turn up at six to be assured a place at the table, bring your favourite ingredients if you want can’t cook won’t cook fun).
Get yourselves down and get involved. We can win this campaign and have a worker controlled renewables factory for 600 workers if we pull our fingers out!
(and it’s sort of on the way / the way back from Calais. ~£30 with railcard for trip from london to ryde, hitching to newport fairly easy. new greyhound coaches as cheap as £1 to portsmouth and southampton. hovercraft portsmouth to ryde can be only £4, fastcat is £7 with a railcard).
there are space tents, and even the odd spare sleeping bag.
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22nd September 2009
Early this morning, a large number of Police were in attendance at the riverside gate of the Vestas Blade plant in Newport.
The blockade of protesters, who have been camping on the tow path over the last few weeks, were dispersed by the Police and any unclaimed belongings bagged up and removed.
When we arrived at the site at about 8:30am, fencing was being erected by security staff along the path.
The operation started at about 6:30am when officers issued warnings, under section 69 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, to around 13 people “suspected of having committed, committing, or about to commit, criminal offences of aggravated trespass.”
One protester showed us a map she’d be handed showing an area at the back of the Vestas building. She told VB that she had been instructed not return to the marked area for three months.
Tents, sleeping bags and other items which were not claimed by those present were bagged up and taken to Newport Police Station as lost property.
The media restricted
The footpath is a busy route for cyclists as they travel to Newport.
This morning, cyclists were told to dismount and were then escorted between the newly-erected fences. They were then able to get back on the bikes and continue their journey.
When we approached the line of the police they offered to escort us across the area and back – but only once.
We were told by the PC and then by the Sergeant that if we wanted to cross the path again, we would risk being charged for aggravated trespass.
We pointed out that this restriction on reporting seemed unreasonable, but to no avail.
The Sergeant suggested taking it up with the Police media officer, which we have done.
UPDATE 2 (12:10): Sound like this has been sorted out now. We’ve just heard from the Police media officer that an area has been setup for the media, up on a raised area that we can shot from.
Blades shipping today?
It’s understood that the Bladerunner barge is due to arrive at the riverside at noon and with high tide at 2pm and that Vestas will attempt to ship the final blades and equipment from the factory this afternoon.
Reports about camp eviction and some but not all blades having been moved, at http://savevestas.wordpress.com/
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There has been a camp outside the Vestas factory on the St. Cross Business Park, Dodnor Lane, Newport, Isle of Wight, since at least the beginning of the Occupation of the factory on 20th July this year. The camp has a well established kitchen run by volunteers who serve quality vegan evening meals ‘Roundabout 8′, with lunch and breakfast also provided and sometimes cooked too. Those who occupied the factory are often present, together with climate campers and those from assorted lefty groups and unions. Get down there and join ’em! …and take some cake with ya!
Also at the camp is a caravan serving as a site/campaign office, a standpipe for freshwater, a chemical toilet, a bike-powered smoothie maker (in bits), a fair amount of solar capacity and salvaged sealed lead acid batteries providing the bare minimum of power to charge radios, phones and a laptop. There’s a recently erected marquee, and a ‘living room’ of sorts, with comfy chairs and an ever-burnin’ oil-drum brazier. There are even spare tents and sleeping bags rescued from being sent to landfill post-Bestival. The weather is generally better than the mainland, the ferry trip is expensive but beautiful and exciting. The locals and welcoming and supportive of the campaign, and the island is full of beautiful countryside including plenty of Mighty Oak trees.
The three main aims of the campaign and camp are to achieve:
1. Full reinstatement of the 11 workers sacked for occupying their factory in an attempt to save the jobs of 600 employed there – these workers have still not been paid any redundancy though to pay them equivalent redundancy to the other workers would cost Vestas a tiny £45,000. The workers are also campaigning for a better redundancy package for all workers.
2. Wind turbine production on the Isle of Wight. If Vestas want to shut the factory, they must sell it. If no buyers come forward, the facility should be nationalised and placed under worker’s control. Caroline Lucas has put forward a proposal for the factory to be run as a Workers’ Coop to the local council under the Sustainable Communities Act. A female ex-worker has also put together a business plan based on such an idea.
3. Serious Government policies and plans regarding the promotion of industry producing renewable energy equipment, and for renewables to provide the required share of national electricity in the UK. The St. Cross site was the UK’s largest renewable’s facility and for the Government to allow it to close as they speak loftily of Copenhagen and 1 million new green jobs is hypocrisy of the highest order.
This is a great campaign, not only because of the clear justice of the aims, but because it is a positive campaign (rare in the Climate and Labour movements), because it is a winnable campaign, because it is a radical campaign, a campaign that has used Direct Action from the start, because it is a campaign with huge local, national and international support, and with huge significance, and huge capacity to inspire further actions.
Those of you who know about the Occupied Factory Movement in Argentina following the December 2001 economic collapse there should know that Vestas is our Zanon, our Brukman – we need to devote energy to this campaign.
Those of you who don’t know about the Argentine Movement should seek out Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis’ film ‘The Take’ or look up the slogans ‘Occupy, Resist, Produce’ and ‘Que Se Vayan Todos’ on the net…
There have been arrests recently and an eviction of a 2nd blockade camp by 120 mainland police at 6.30 am one day last week.
Support in the form of donations, visits (however short) and solidarity actions is warmly received!
see: savevestas.wordpress.com for more info, and irregular updates!