Upton Day 648 (Tues 12th Jan) Camp Eviction

Local People Massing On Road Outside As IGas Try To Evict Camp In Upton, Cheshire (Click To Enlarge)

See below for more photos

Eviction attempt underway since this morning! Get down to the camp if you can. Both ends of Duttons Lane have been closed by the police (potential access across fields). Large numbers of police and baliffs, but people are still occupying the site and need support.

The camp is using a variety of direct action tactics to resist the eviction, including tree houses, scaffold towers, lock-ons and tunnels. An eviction requiring a wide variety of specialist equipment and personnel, including climbing and tunneling teams will be much more expensive. By dragging out the eviction for as long as possible, IGas’s costs are costs are increased, which is all investors care about.

Up to 11 people have been arrested so far (mainly for obstruction), but other are still holding out and the eviction is obviously taking much longer than hoped for. One person has single-handedly stopped a digger from being brought onto the site by jumping on top of it. Flood lights are being brought in, so looks like they are expecting eviction to continue into night. One person being cut off scaffold platform as night it falling.

For almost 2 years the Camp has been occupying a site where fracking company IGas Energy has planning permission to drilling a coalbed methane (CBM) well. It’s presence has defended the community from becoming a regional foothold for the industry.

Latest News: Twitter Feed
Arrest Support: Manchester GBC
Camp Info: Upton Community Protection Camp
Site Info: Duttons Lane Site
Local Groups: Frack Free Dee, Frack Free Upton