Wednesday, October 10, 2007

GREENPEACE SENDS A MESSAGE TO BRITAINS PM


Twenty-four people were arrested yesterday (and later bailed out) after Greenpeace activists took over a power station in Medway,Kent (UK) Monday.

Greenpeace campaigners (one of whom is pictured here) stopped the conveyor belts feeding coal into the Kingsnorth power plant in Kent on Monday in an attempt to shut the power station, while a handful of others set off up the ladder scaling the power station's 200-metre chimney to paint "Gordon Bin It" as they abseiled down.

Greenpeace stated:

"Coal is the most polluting of all fossil fuels; it just isn’t fit for purpose in the 21st century. No new coal fired power station has been built in the UK in over 30 years but now Gordon Brown may be giving the green light to a new coal rush."


On Tuesday, the chimney team were forced to take the long climb down, into the arms of the Kent constabulary. On Tuesday evening, most people were released, although four people spent the night in custody.

Although the protest did not succeed in shutting down the plant, three of the four 485-megawatt generation units did slash their output to 230 MW on Monday afternoon, but had returned to near full output by early on Tuesday, according to data from National Grid.

The following is from the Press Association.

Six held over power plant protest

Six people more people have been arrested after abandoning their protest at a power station, police have said.

The arrests came after demonstrators were served with an injunction demanding that they come down from a chimney at the Kingsnorth power station in Medway, Kent.

Eighteen demonstrators were arrested on Monday, but the remaining members of the group painted "Gordon" down the side of the 656ft (200m) chimney.

A Kent Police spokeswoman said four men and one woman had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and unlawful trespass after climbing down from the chimney.

Another man was arrested at the site, she said.

Police officers have left the site and handed it back to power firm Eon, she said.

The protest by around 26 Greenpeace campaigners began on Monday.

Six activists climbed the smokestack at around 5am while 20 others chained themselves to the station's conveyor belt to prevent it burning coal.

They were urging Prime Minister Gordon Brown to reject plans for Britain's first new coal plant in more than 20 years.

Eon wants to build a plant on the site which could supply electricity to 1.5 million homes. But activists warn it will pump harmful carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere and create a precedent for more coal in the future.

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