Bastille Day

On 14th July 1789 the people of Paris stormed the French State prison, The Bastille. On Friday 14th 2000, at 9am, people began to gather at Golders Green to celebrate Bastille Day in style with a weekend of action against the expansion of the Prison Industry.

At 10am the crowd of around 100 people walked to West Hampstead Station and onto a train to Richmond, followed by around forty policemen. From Richmond the crowd boarded the Reading Train and police became anxious again - on that line are Wormwood Scubs and Feltham Young Offenders Institute. The crowd began to sing “Ballad of Reading Gaol.”

Had the Met read the flyers, they'd have known that the Bastille Day celebration was to be a land occupation. Had they been in touch with Surrey Police they would have known that at 10:30am 50 people occupied a pretty piece of land in Ashford, Surrey, the planned site of yet another Women's Prison.

By the time the Police had worked out what was going on, tripods, tents and marquees were up and people had settled in for a weekend of action, discussion and sharing information about prison expansion and how to stop it.

The response from local people was positive. They don't want the Prison. As soon as the Bastille Day crowd arrived, people were bringing food and trying to persuade them to stay for good. Even train drivers passing the site honked their approval.

Leaflets were taken door to door inviting people to come to the site. People were shown plans of the proposed prison and info about CAGE, direct action, prison privatisation, and immigration detention. The occupation ended on Monday, but the whole action was so successful people were already discussing followups. Ideas included targeting any company that dares to bid for the contract and even setting up a permanent site in Ashford to stop construction altogether.