Yesterday people from Mainshill Solidarity Camp took action to stop work on the proposed site for Scottish Coal's opencast mine. One person climbed up to the top of the drilling rig and stopped their work for five hours. The police arrived and the protester was told that she would be arrested...if only they could get her to come down. Eventually, after much head-scratching, specialist police climbers managed to remove her and she was arrested, appearing in Lanark Sheriff Court this morning.
Over the past week, drilling equipment has been moved onto the site as well as harvesting machines to log plantation trees to make way for the coal excavation. This work has been delayed by people from the camp and members of the local community approaching machinery and explaining the devastating effects that the coal mine will bring - ranging from impacts on local community health, to climate and ecological damage. The work that is being done now is all in preparation for the opencast and needs to be stopped.
This is a crucial time for this campaign to show Lord Home, the wealthy land owner and Scottish Coal that we will not allow this project to go ahead.
This morning, police escorted felling machines and Scottish Woodland workers onto the site, removing a barricade and cutting down a tree defense that had blocked the track. The police's involvement in protecting the interests of aristocrat Lord Home and private company Scottish Coal over the interests of the local community is very disappointing.
Now is a great time for people to come and join us at the camp and to take action to continue our resistance.
For more information on the ongoing campaign and news from the Public Meeting on Community Health, which is taking place tonight in Douglas, see http://mainshill.noflag.org.uk.
