Stop The Crop
On Sunday the 18th of July the Stop the Crop rally against genetic engineering resulted in a farm-scale AgrEvo test site being destroyed. The rally was held near Watlington, in Oxfordshire and featured several speakers and musicians, some of whom urged the crowd not to trespass into the field!
A soon as the speakers had finished, the several hundred protesters present calmly walked past a handful of police and into the crop. A few hours later, the greater part of it lay flattened and unharvestable, rendering the test useless.
Thames Valley police seemed unsure how to respond. A few crop-pullers were arrested during the afternoon ' all of whom were unmasked and isolated from the main crowd, and were therefore easier targets for the police. Physical attempts were made to free those who had been arrested but with no success.
As people left the test site to return to their vehicles, the police became more provocative when, having sent for reinforcements, they linked arms and used horses to intimidate the protestors, closing in on the end of a line of people who were leaving the field. A mounted policeman lifted one woman by her hair, and in front of TV cameras it was made to look as if the jubilant and good-humoured crowd was an angry and violent mob.
Most of the time, the police seemed more intent on filming the event than trying to stop the action taking place. They filmed people getting off the half-dozen coaches which arrived from all over the country. They filmed people listening to music and speeches. From a helicopter hovering over the test site they filmed people trespassing on the crop and pulling it up. What use they make of the footage remains to be seen, and several newspapers reported Thames Valley police's intention to 'track down everyone they could find' and charge them with causing criminal damage. It seems unlikely that they will succeed in this however since most people were wearing identical white suits and masks and many had further disguised themselves with sun-glasses.
One of the rally's organisers stated: 'The people who were at Watlington on that hot July Sunday, varied though they were in age and aspirations, were united in one respect: they knew they were fighting a desperate, bare-handed battle in a one-sided war. Ranged against them were billion-dollar interests and a deaf government... They knew that this was an historical moment - ordinary people driven to openly defy a law which protects capitalism and denies them their rights. Those who were there can be justly proud of their action. If challenged, most of them will, I suspect, be proud to say they were there and they played their part. It remains to be seen if the government takes note and finally listens to the will of the people.'
Prior to the rally a squat was established on the same estate. It features an organic garden and its existence raises the issue, demonstrates alternatives and annoys the land owner!
Genetic Engineering Network: 0181 3749516.