A forest that has to be cut down for NATO-planes, is already for more then a month occupied. AWAC-planes are terrorising the local people for over 25 years. But currently a minority of politicians and police (yes they are a minority) are trying to take over the forest and chop it down.
Background:
For 25 years the inhabitants of Schinveld and Brunssum in Dutch Limburg are organising actions against the prensence of the AWACS, these tremendously noisy planes cause noise nuisance, pollution and health problems for the locals since those planes have been banned from flying in the United States for exactly those reasons.
On top of all this, NATO wants to destroy 20 hectares of forest. Because the town council refused to deliver the necessary licenses to cut down the forest, a NIMBY-procedure was set up to take away the councils decision making power. On august 3rd the minister of territorial infrastructure delivered an exemption so the ministry of defense can start cutting the trees. The council appealed that decision with the supreme court (Raad van Sate) but lost the appeal on december 2nd for the 6 hectares of forest that are the closest to the base. Thats why two days later the forest was occupied, the activists get an enourmous support from the locals.
The local mayor is in favor of cutting the forest, but the rest of the council is doing their best to fight every decision he takes. Political parties are finally after all these years standing up against the NATO, hoping to profit from the enormous support that local actiongroups and Earth First get.Thanks to the great support, the camp has built up a nice defense against the loggers. However tonight the police is preparing everything to start the evicition. The governement plans to start logging on Monday morning.
Ongoing: (top is newest)
Monday 9 January 3:16 Riot police starts sweeping the forest. People are chaoticly running around. After the first line of cops, are cops with dogs. The people in the tree huts are being left alone at the moment. It' s unclear how many people are in lock-ons on the ground.
2:42 German police retreats, they only gave logistic support 2:34 100 German cops are giving support to their Dutch collegues
2:15 The tree camp is besieged by Dutch riot cops
2:10 Riot cops are entering the forest
1:49 20 vans of riot police arrived
1:38 Helicopter is circling above the camp
Sunday, 8 January
23:30 Riot police returned to their departure place at the back side of the Maastricht-Aachen airport.
23:15 At the Groenfront!website (Earth First) there were lots of messages from people on their way to the forest. At least 100 people.
23:06 Cops left from Roermond, there are only 6 vans left there.
22:30 A group from the fire departement of Brunssum (nearby village) are in the forest. They decided to do so when the police requested their assistance to provide light for the eviction, they refused.
22:10 There are still many people in the forest, many activists, locals and some press teams.
An overview of the earlier developments might be posted later, stay tuned...
Older news
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/12/329845.html overview 13/12 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/330807.html general
For 25 years the inhabitants of Schinveld and Brunssum in Dutch Limburg are organising actions against the prensence of the AWACS, these tremendously noisy planes cause noise nuisance, pollution and health problems for the locals since those planes have been banned from flying in the United States for exactly those reasons.
On top of all this, NATO wants to destroy 20 hectares of forest. Because the town council refused to deliver the necessary licenses to cut down the forest, a NIMBY-procedure was set up to take away the councils decision making power. On august 3rd the minister of territorial infrastructure delivered an exemption so the ministry of defense can start cutting the trees. The council appealed that decision with the supreme court (Raad van Sate) but lost the appeal on december 2nd for the 6 hectares of forest that are the closest to the base. Thats why two days later the forest was occupied, the activists get an enourmous support from the locals.
The local mayor is in favor of cutting the forest, but the rest of the council is doing their best to fight every decision he takes. Political parties are finally after all these years standing up against the NATO, hoping to profit from the enormous support that local actiongroups and Earth First get.Thanks to the great support, the camp has built up a nice defense against the loggers. However tonight the police is preparing everything to start the evicition. The governement plans to start logging on Monday morning.
Ongoing: (top is newest)
Monday 9 January 3:16 Riot police starts sweeping the forest. People are chaoticly running around. After the first line of cops, are cops with dogs. The people in the tree huts are being left alone at the moment. It' s unclear how many people are in lock-ons on the ground.
2:42 German police retreats, they only gave logistic support 2:34 100 German cops are giving support to their Dutch collegues
2:15 The tree camp is besieged by Dutch riot cops
2:10 Riot cops are entering the forest
1:49 20 vans of riot police arrived
1:38 Helicopter is circling above the camp
Sunday, 8 January
23:30 Riot police returned to their departure place at the back side of the Maastricht-Aachen airport.
23:15 At the Groenfront!website (Earth First) there were lots of messages from people on their way to the forest. At least 100 people.
23:06 Cops left from Roermond, there are only 6 vans left there.
22:30 A group from the fire departement of Brunssum (nearby village) are in the forest. They decided to do so when the police requested their assistance to provide light for the eviction, they refused.
22:10 There are still many people in the forest, many activists, locals and some press teams.
An overview of the earlier developments might be posted later, stay tuned...
Older news
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/12/329845.html overview 13/12 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/330807.html general
