Three Evictions At Birmingham
The last six weeks have seen three evictions of camps and squats on the route of the Birmingham Northern Relief Road, involving a range of underhand tactics by police and bailiffs. The Moneymore Squats were the first to go. Several hundred police, bailiffs and security guards turned up on the 8th of December. One of the first actions they took was to seize the mobile phones in the campaign office, cutting off any communication with the tunnellers. One phone was returned the next day, but with all its information recorded. At the same time a bunker at the nearby Greenwood site was evicted, despite not being under an re-posession order.
The last two people were removed from the tunnels on the 20th December after about 2 weeks underground and arrested, bringing the total of those arrested to around 30.
On the 9th January, events took a new turn as a nuclear bunker was squatted. However, as the news filtered out, a local farmers wife came and complained that her husband's ashes were buried underneath a park bench which was on top of the bunker. The occupants were deciding whether or not to leave when some other 'locals' turned up - who were actually plain clothes police. They enticed people out of the bunker to chat, and then grabbed them and nicked them for burglary. One person fell back down the shaft of the bunker, breaking her arm in the process. Six people were arrested and remanded for burglary and criminal damage (painting slogans), despite the fact that only 2 people were in the bunker at the time. (See prisoners section.)
The eviction of the third camp came a few days later, on January 13th. With most people bailed off route from the squats, and six people remanded after the bunker eviction, there were only 3 people around to keep the Greenwood camp running. Police arrived in the evening to talk to people on site, but when they came over, the police claimed they were off the site and therefore it was unoccupied. It was an especially un-called for eviction since the residents were in the process of arranging a deal where they would fill in the tunnels and bunkers in exchange for the eviction being put off - therefore at least ensuring the safety of the trees during an appeal against the road.
A new camp has been set up at The Spinney, half a mile up the road,.and with 261/2 miles of route left to protect new activists will always be welcome! Camp mobile 07970 301978 - the other number was confiscated by the police.