Students across the country are holding occupations and sit ins in solidarity with Gaza. SOAS shut down a MOD exhibition on their campus whilst students at LSE declared victory after seven days when the university agreed to all of their demands.

They are followed by others at King's College,Essex, Warwick, Sussex , Birmingham and over 80 Oxford University students have occupied the historic Bodleian building to demand that the university releases a statement condemning the attack on Gaza and cancel the lecture series at Balliol College inaugurated by Israeli war criminal Shimon Peres. There are also early reports of occupations at Manchester Met, Newcastle, Leeds, Cambridge [Pics], Bradford, Queen Mary, Sheffield Hallam, Nottingham, Strathclyde and Manchester universities. Update Wed 28th: The occupations have started to bring in results as both Sussex and Bradfod students have declared "victory" [See Sussex and Bradford declarations] On the other hand, the Cambridge University occupation is under threat of eviction [more] Update Sun 1st Feb: Nottingham occupation violently evicted [more | video] Update 11th Feb: Golsmiths University and the University of East Anglia are occupied.

In Yorkshire, students have occupied a building at Leeds University whilst the Bradford AGM voted to give the university the weekend to comply with demands to support the Palestinians, or expect action on Monday. On Tuesday morning, around 80 students occupied the university boardroom. The students say they "are enraged and horrified by the unspeakable atrocities that have been committed by the Israeli military on the people of Palestine, and ... will not tolerate the complicity of ... institutions of education in this violence."

Regional features: Cambridge | Nottingham | Sheffield

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E.ON has withdrawn from University Careers Fairs run by AIESEC following a string of protests around the country. E.ON did not show up at Birmingham today (12th Nov). The protesters object to E.ON wanting to develop new coal fired power stations, such as at Kingsnorth - the target of this summers Climate Camp. However E.ON cannot avoid the protests by avoiding careers fairs - expect more fun during 48 hours of action against E.ON and new coal on the 28/29 November.

Students have visited careers fairs to protest about the presence of parts of the arms and fossil fuel industries. Climate chaos related companies targeted include RBS (the oil and gas bank), BP and Shell. The arms industry representatives include the Army, B.Ae, Qinetiq and Rolls Royce. Careers fairs have been targeted in Aston, Birmingham ( 2 ), Bristol, Cambridge ( 2 | 3 ), Durham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Imperial College London, Kings College London, Leeds, Liverpool, Loughborough, Manchester ( 2 | 3 ), Nottingham ( 2 | 3 ), Oxford ( 2 ), Sheffield, Southampton, Warwick and York. More reports are available from People and Planet.

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Update (20/01/08): The Bonn Square treesit ended after Gabriel came down from the tree. He was in need of food and water after the police and council had cut off all supplies (even arresting those who attempted to get water to him) and had to be given medical attention. The tree was felled and several activists were arrested trying to prevent the felling. Meanwhile the campaign to save other trees in the area from the Westgate expansion continues.

The beginning of 2008 saw more resistance to the ongoing gentrification of Oxford. On the 4th January a sycamore, reportedly 100 years old, was occupied by a sole protester (with plenty of support from below) to prevent it being felled for the 'redevelopment' of Bonn Square. They have since been served with a court summons and could do with support on Monday 14th January from 10am at Oxford County Court.

Meanwhile, the Westgate Partnership have been merrily chainsawing trees to make way for the Westgate expansion (which is technically different from the Bonn Square project, but linked to the West End 'regeneration'). This is despite the fact that a public inquiry is still going on over the demolition of Abbey Place sheltered housing - a clear indication of what the developers think of the legal process.

On Wednesday 9th January there was an impromptu day of action at the back of the Westgate centre where some trees had already been cut down. This protest led to the arrest of Councillor Glass Woodin and also saw one of the London Plane trees being occupied for over 24 hours. The bad weather on the 10th saw off - no pun intended - any more tree carnage.

There was a protest about the Westgate expansion on Saturday 12th January which saw at least 100 people reclaiming Bonn Square.

Meanwhile, Oxford County Council are meeting soon to decide whether to grant Radley Lakes Town Green status. If successful, this would prevent NPower using the lakes as a dumping ground for their waste ash. Save Radley Lakes need supporters on Monday 14th from 1:30pm at County Hall, Castle St.

[ Early reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | Video ]    [ Later actions: 1 (with video) | 2 | 3 ]    [ Bonn Sq: demo | mass action ]    [ starvation policy: 1 | 2 ]    [ Bonn Sq chainsawed: 1 | 2 | photos ]    [ Westgate trees spiked ]

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Around 10:30pm on Saturday, August 4th, a riot broke out in Campsfield House, Oxfordshire, leading to 26 migrants escaping the immigration prison. 15 have since been recaptured, while the rest are still on the run. It followed a yard protest on Tuesday night against the appalling conditions inside the detention centre, which is run by American company GEO, and the discriminatory decisions of Newport immigration court, which is used for bail hearings and appeals involving Campsfield detainees. A hunger strike was started on Wednesday but was put on hold pending a meeting with Home Office representatives on Friday. A further yard protest on Friday night was held as the meeting failed to meet the prisoners' demands. Three solidarity demos were held on Tuesday midday at Campsfield House, Lindholme (Doncaster) and the Communication House (London) [reports: 1 | 2 | 3 ].

Last week, a revolt in a detention centre in Bari, Italy, led to at least 35 migrants escaping. Three weeks ago, 69 Tamil detainees in 5 detention centres, including Campsfield, went on hunger strike against a Home Office decision to deport them back to Sri Lanka [appeal]. Many are still on hunger strike while two Sri Lankan detainees in Harmondswoth, near Heathrow, have been on hunger strike for almost a month (see also Immigration detention: Unworkable).

Links: Campaign to Close Campsfield | No Borders UK

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"They left the land to rot, covered in trash and needles. They hope the buildings will fall down, so they can justify flogging to the highest bidder [...] Reading Borough Council call it development, regeneration. We call it gentrification, exclusion."

In Reading, a group of local activists and residents have reclaimed a plot of land left empty by the local council, transforming it into an attractive community garden. After months of hard work, they went public with banners and door-to-door flyering, advertising the opening day and encouraging the neighbours to see the garden as common land for all to enjoy. The councils response? Injunctions and threats of eviction. Undeterred, the group pushed ahead with the opening day, which was a great success.

A few legal hearings later, the council have their eviction orders, and are expected to try and evict the garden and adjacent squatted building on Wednesday 20th June. Help is needed to resist the eviction - meet 9:30am at the garden.

Meanwhile, in Oxford, locals have turned an area of derelict garages into a similar community space - in this case, with the permission and help of the local council (undoubtably because access issues make the site unsuitable for developers).

They held their official opening on Saturday 16th, also a varied and wonderful community event. In a sickening counterpart to events in Reading, council bureaucrats and the local Blairite MP used the project as cover to prop up their own crumbling reputations, to the discomfort of many of those present.

[ Reading: eviction callout | eviction hearing | detailed report | injunction hearing + demo | opening day report + pics | opening announcement | local mainstream coverage ]
[ Oxford: opening day pics | opening announcement ]

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Early in the morning of 14 March, an Algerian detainee held in Campsfield immigration prison in Oxfordshire forcefully resisted an attempted 'removal' by the immigration authorities. Fellow detainees then tried to intervene in solidarity and a riot soon spread in the detention centre, with facilities smashed and set on fire. 2 detainees and 7 staff were taken into hospital, all suffering smoke inhalation [see reports and updates]. In addition to emergency services, Tornado units (riot squads) from the Prison Service were deployed to deal with the 'disturbances'. According to a written ministerial statement by Immigration minister Liam Byrne, 60 of the detainees at Campsfield House have been transferred to other parts of the Home Office detention estate, but other detainees have remained at the centre, which holds up to 200 detainees and was operating at near full capacity at the time of the riot.

Links: Campaign to Close Campsfield | National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns | UK NoBorders groups

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Update (15/02/07): Tree felling and preparation work has started, and sporadic actions are taking places to try to block this work. More help is needed.

Update (06/02/07): The eviction took place on Tuesday 6th February. Bailiffs wearing balaclavas smashed their way in through a set of downstairs windows early in the morning, but it still took them several hours to clear the house after one of the squatters locked on. "We may have lost round one but we will re-group and consider our next course of action. We are not finished yet[...]" - quote attributed to one of the squatters by the Oxford Mail.

URGENT CALL to defend the occupation of Sandles, Thrupp Lake.

On Wednesday 24th January, energy company RWE Npower was granted an order to evict this lakeside property with immediate effect. Meanwhile, at the property extremely robust defences are being built with a view to delaying the destruction of this area of outstanding natural beauty. This is an URGENT CALL for people to join them in resisting the coming eviction. Please phone the site mobile 07772 055 384 straight away.

Npower, who run the notoriously polluting Didcot Power Station, want to fill the lakes with toxic fly ash, a by-product of coal-burning.

A massive campaign by local people has been ignored by both company and the authorities. Oxfordshire County Council has so far facilitated npower's dumping. The habitat is home to many protected species, including water voles and rare orchids. There have been reported sightings of otters. Further expertise is requested to gather further evidence of the ecology of the lakes. Boats are also very welcome at the site.

Links: Eviction expected | Videos: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] | Photos | Court Report | Occupation and background | Older Report | Campaign Website | Map

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On Saturday 25th November a host of anti-consumerist actions went off across Oxford shopping centre. The day started with an info-stall, big-brand-bowling and anti-capitalist christmas carols. A congregation of shop-worshippers did the rounds, while another group left subverted till receipts in interesting locations.

As evening fell Breach of the Peace samba band reclaimed Cornmarket to the cry of 'stop shopping, start living', merging beautifully with a local Faslane 365 anti-nuke group who were out and about doing a series of die-ins. Finally a 'merry band of Oxford pixies' reported having cheekily relabelled goods in several chainstores.

Meanwhile many other events took place across the UK.

[ reports: Samba and die-in | Shop worshippers | Relabellers ]
[ related: BoP samba | Faslane 365 | UK feature | radical carols ]

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Update (11/10/06): The trial resulted in a hung jury, with the jurors unable to agree on a verdict after over 12 hours of deliberation!

The trial of two Oxford peace activists who attempted to disarm B52 bombers on their way to Iraq is taking place all this week. Toby Olditch and Phil Pritchard went into Fairford airbase just two days before the planes were used, hoping to disable the bombers and thus save civilian lives in Iraq and inspire others to action.

They were arrested before reaching the planes but have gone on to fight a high-profile legal battle, using their case to challenge the legality of the war and raise awareness. The upshot of this has been that various courts, up to and including the House of Lords, spinelessly (but predictably) refusing to allow arguments about the legality of the war. The legal argument for the trial now focuses on Phil and Toby's reasonable belief that they were acting to prevent war crimes.

Support at court is very welcome during the trial, either to come inside or with banners etc outside; Bristol Crown Court is on Small Street, off Corn Street, in Bristol town centre. Check the trial blog for the latest updates.

Margaret Jones and Paul Milling's trial for a similiar action resulted in a hung jury recently and they are awaiting a re-trial.

Meanwhile a Peace Picnic takes place this Saturday 7th October at RAF Croughton, a local US/UK spybase.

B52two trial blog | B52two homepage | trial report | press release

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Internationally, police officers who mutilate or kill people on duty usually get off scot-free, often without the cases even making the news. The Swiss internet site PigBrother.info exposes such cases and the police weapons involved. Though often labelled "less lethal" and portrayed as "harmless", many have proved to be fatal; others have been banned for use in war by e.g. the Geneva Convention yet still frequently used by policeforces worldwide.

In a multimedia live show, Soulless and Anger (the makers of PigBrother.info) present typical cases including weapons, injuries and favourite police excuses from the UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, USA and Switzerland. The show takes place on 9th October, 8pm at East Oxford Community Centre.

Despite the heavy going topic and its technical aspects, the show is presented in an easy to understand and concise way, and Soulless & Anger also focus on the funnier aspects of several Police Operations making the Officers involved look only too human. They demonstrate how persistent work in this area can make a difference, forcing the police and the official media to at least sometimes act more by the book or even abolish some weapons or tactics.

PigBrother.info

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