The Press Association wire ran an item on the blockade quoting Agrexco General Manager Amos Orr as saying that many of the protesters were drunk. It is surprising that the Press Association ran this story without reporting the fact that each activist was subjected to a search under Section one of the Police And Criminal Evidence Act, a power which the police have been using widely to deal with activists from the Climate Camp. Such searches require the activists to be intimately searched by police officers, and no arrests were made for any alcohol related offences. Bearing in mind the over-zealous manner in which the camp has been policed, Mr. Orr should be able at the least to point to charges which substantiate the claim. In any event Mr Orr did not arrive until the protest was virtually over. The claim is strongly denied.

Mr. Orr goes on to say that protesters were 'singing about Hamas'. This claim too is strenuously denied by the activists involved. Orr's comments are an attempt to smear campaigners. Those who attended the protest did so to highlight the damaging effects of air freighting of food and to show support for Palestinians who suffer under Israeli Occupation, and against the importation of produce from settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank.

The Camp For Climate Action has been the victim of repeated attempts to smear campaigners. This is because those who are responsible for the root causes of climate change want to distract attention from the real issues.

6 activists were arrested and released on police bail. No-one has yet been charged with any offence.

Notes to the Editor

Carmel-Agrexco is an Israeli company which air freights fresh produce into Britain and thereby contributes to climate change.

The action was part of a concerted campaign against the company and part of the growing movement for a boycott of Israeli apartheid. The action coincided with the Climate Camp and sought to highlight the damage done to the environment by air freighting of food by Agrexco and similar companies.