Newbury Bypass Open

After a 3 year campaign of resistance the Newbury Bypass opened in the early hours of the 12th of November while activists slept soundly in their beds. A handful of people who managed to get to nearby Chively services was the only protest Newbury saw that night.

The campaign against the Newbury Bypass was the largest of its type in Britain to date. It saw the arrests of over 1000 people, the eviction of over 30 camps, the mobilisation of thousands of police and security guards and the destruction of countless pieces of machinery. All in all it is believed to have added well over £20 million to the cost of the road.

Later in the same daySouth Downs EF!launched a revenge attack on Mott McDonald, the civil engineering company which designed the bypass. At 1.30pm, exactly 12 hours after the bypass had been opened, a group of 25 people occupied their offices in Brighton. Mott McDonald are also responsible for other socially and ecologically dodgy schemes. For example, the designing of 'civillian' airstrips in Iraq, power stations for the Suharto regime in Indonesia, and the M3 through Twyford Down.

During the occupation 500 leaflets were given out in the surrounding area, explaining what was happening and why. Leaflets were also distributed to office workers stating that 'we all hate the boss'.

By the time police arrived most people had barricaded themselves inside the finance office and were busy re-organising the filing system. Rumours also suggest that a number of computer hard drives had been erased. No arrests.

* The third anniversary of the Newbury evictions starting will see another reunion.