Irish Dissent; Tuesday Report

This report comes from the Indymedia centre in the Stirling campsite.

Yesterday the Irish Barrio emptied as people headed either to Faslane or to Edinburgh. Throughout the days, reports and rumours indicated the the protests were been dealt with in very different ways. The Faslane protest proceeded without the expected mass arrest, while in Edinburgh the RTS-type activity was shut down before it even began.

In a particularily sinister move, the police targeted in particular the Medics and the Legal Teams, with a number being detained, beaten and arrested. One member of the Irish dissent group is unaccounted for an presumed arrested (though the police have not confirmed names or nationalilites of those arrested).
Throughout the afternoon protesters returned with stories of being penned in and chased by extreemly heavy handed police action.

In the camp, however, attention turned to organising the next days actions. At seven o'clock a Spokescouncil debated different proposals for blocades. Similutaneously throughout the campsite barrios and affinity groups met. Periodically thoughout the Spokescouncil meeting, representatives were sent back to the barrios for feedback and reactions to the unfolding plan. Slowly, bit by bit, a consensus emerged. Concerns were raised. Logisical issues identified. The meeting ended at 10.00, and immediately different working groups convened to tease out the many different problems that had to be solved.

As I walked through the camp last night, I could see small circles of people dotted here and there, discussing which actions to take. Althought many related stories of considerable harrassement during the day, there wasn't a sense of defeat, or even particular paranoia within the campsite. We sang (badly) around our campsite, we took our turns at the front gate, we talked about the days events and what we were thinking of doing in the future.

There was a brief flurry of activity after one o'clock when the site alarm went off and a call went out that the police had entered the site. Sleepers were quickly woken, people gathered at their barrios, sending delegates to the front gate to find out what was happening. Luckily it was a false alarm, although some police had turned up, they left without seeking entry.

In an earlier report I should have mentioned that the Irish Barrio held a site wide meeting on Sunday to inform others of the shell situation. This lead to a decision to carry out a solidarity action while here in Scotland. Early this morning many left the campsite to participate in that.

Those who stayed in Stirling continued to plan for the blocades. This morning, as I walked through the campsite, I kept passing small groups of people staring intently at opened maps.

Finally I am happy to report that the Bitchin Kitchen/Sudden Death Vegan Cafe are up and running. Whatever else, we have to eat.

irish barrio meeting about shell

Advice for dealing with the police

Indymedia Centre

The writing's on the wall