Demo Report
Occold – 24th April 2002
A very
eventful after dark demo took place at HLS Occold on
the night of Wednesday, 24th April.
There were only five of us, but somehow we managed to set the paranoid
security in absolute turmoil! Within moments
of us arriving, one of the many infra-red security cameras was trained on our
vehicles and within five short minutes a cop riot van roared up to the main
entrance on Barric Lane and swiftly positioned itself right outside the gates. They were obviously expecting trouble! Losing no time at all, we quickly moved up
the lane, following the perimeter fence, made our way along a public footpath
and finally emerged at the back of the extensive premises, where we continued
our circumnavigation of the evil site!
About half way round we met the cops coming the other way, flashing
their torches all over the place! Then,
the distant sound of a helicopter became apparent and lo and behold it was the
sky cops! A powerful searchlight was
soon witnessed sweeping the dark fields, no doubt anxiously searching for
us! As we were not doing anything
illegal, we completely ignored all the unprecedented attention and continued
our laborious journey, crossing fields and eventually finding the road leading
back to the lab. Meanwhile, the chopper
continued to hover overhead and back at the front entrance, all the security
lights were blazing away and the infra-red cameras were working overtime! Two more police vehicles arrived and then,
without warning, a large, unmarked double container lorry turned into Barric Lane and made its way directly into the
lab complex. The automatic gates, opened
by security to allow access for the vehicle, closed quickly immediately
afterwards, leaving us all wondering what was inside the two mysterious
containers. Beagles? Monkeys?
Body parts? Who knows?
Shortly after the arrival of the lorry, the sky cops and half of the
ground force deserted us. After hanging
around the main entrance for a few more minutes, we left too, realising what a
very effective protest this had been – just three days before ‘World Day’!
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