NEWBURY -
Wars of the British Tree People
Script
Directed and Produced by Keely Purdue & Mark Stucke
A JOURNEYMAN PICTURES Production
10:00:00:00 Snowy pine,singing
00:30 Title shot -tree and fire(singing ends)
00:45 Jerry on car phone We’re approaching Redding’s now. We’ll let you know if we see anything crazy.
00:53 This is Newbury, an hour and a half outside London.
01:06 Protesters by fire inside treehouse
High up in tree houses anti - roads protesters wait to hear which tree camps the police will go to today.
01:13 Trees
They’ve been here throughout one of the coldest winter’s on record, trying to stop ancient woodland being cut down to make way for a new road. Here, at a camp called Redding’s Copse stands the tallest tree along the route of the proposed Newbury bypass.
01:26 Jerry on CB in car
Jerry is a look-out on the ground. He and his family watch for signs of early movement from an army of private security guards.
01:35 Jerry’s son stops filming
Hey! Leave it away!
01:38 Convoy spotted
With over 30 tree camps along the 9 1/2 mile route it’s difficult to know which trees will be targeted toady. A convoy of diggers is spotted. It’s time to move.
01:54 Interview: Greg Basically there are people monitoring the route. They’re driving around in their own vehicles following the security as they leave and by process of elimination see which road they take. Then we can narrow it down to two or three camps.
01:13 Manic fixing treehouse
The tallest tree is a majestic Corsican pine. The police haven’t appeared at Redding’s Copse today. So Manic is fixing some holes in the treehouse.
02:36 Interview: Greg It is quite good fun as well. It’s a bit of an experience. It’s a bit like being in the boy scouts. But we definitely take it very seriously because there’s quite a lot at stake here.
02:58 Jerry climbs tree
Jerry, the look-out from the car leaves son Ben on the ground to join today’s evictions.
Jerry singing up tree
Do what I tell you or I’ll give you the sack!
03:13
For over three months, road protesters have fought each day with 1000 security guards, police and professional climbers in England’s biggest anti-road protest ever.
03:22 Song: What are we doing here? And fighting in trees
03:57 The £101 million bypass will cut 2 minutes off the time it takes to drive through Newbury during rush hour.
04:31 Tree eviction
Hattie: We’re in a tree being evicted and there’s a climber coming up who’s just down there.
Climber: It looks fairly cosy in there.
Hattie: What is he going to do next I wonder? What are you doing up a tree the?
Climber: For the money.
Hattie: For the money? That’s worthwhile. But you don’t need money.
Climber: I do. I shouldn’t have to should I? But I’m conditioned.
Hattie: We haven’t got any money and we’re quite happy.
Climber: I know.
Hattie: Well the climber’s friend is just underneath him now so there are two climbers outside the treehouse...
Anne: (tarpaulin pulled off)Hello sky! Hello people in the top of the tree.
Climber: Have we got to go home then?
Hattie: They’ve pulled everything down and now they’re going home!
Climber: He’s just said leave them. We’re just trashing the treehouse and leaving the people.
Anne: You can come and do it all again tomorrow.
05:33 Works stops each day at 5 o’ clock.
05:39 Hattie: They’ve finished work.I don’t believe you.
Hattie: No they’ve gone. They’ve gone home.
Fade to black
06:01 Evening in pine
Later on at Redding’s Copse, Martin, a Newbury local fills the others in on the day’s events.
06:08 Martin telling others about day They’ve actually hit Mary Hare, Gotan, Snelsmore, the whole caboodle around that area. But they were saying that if you actually get underneath the branch and D - lock your neck to it, they can’t cut the branch, they can’t cut straight into your D - lock, because you’ll fall. And you know King Arthur? You know he got arrested with his sword? They took the sword off him and then they realised that he’s allowed to have his sword because it’s part of his religion. So they gave it back to him and do you know what they did him for? ‘Offensive weapon’ and they took his pocket knife off him! (laughter)
06:51 Interview: Howie
We’re not organised, we have no leaders and no hierarchy, we’re just doing it for love. There’s a bond of love between everyone. That’s the thing about this campaign, this whole lifestyle. There’s a real feeling of respect. And there’s respect for people you don’t even know. You just bump into them and there’s a feeling of respect there. And that’s why we’re strong.
07:22 Interview: Jane This is Redding’s Copse and this is more or less in the middle of the route. There are probably about 30 camps all over the place. As you can see it’s got the tallest tree on route... which is right next to the tree that I live in.
07:51 Interview: Greg It took five days to build this, the
floor went down in about two days and then the walls and then the bender poles here and the tarps over the top.
08:06 Greg’s v/o over him & Howie hauling up planks I used to work as a builder and so I know a little bit about structural support... but it’s just there are no straight lines on a tree. You know, trying to find a level place between two branches all the way around the tree is quite difficult. It’s not quite level, it’s sloping slightly towards that direction, but I‘m only pointing that out because I’m a bit of a perfectionist!
08:33 Martin teaching children to climb Going up trees like that: don’t even try it all right? It takes two minutes to just tidy your knots up... Always, before you climb, just pull down on your knots, so that you know your knots are going to slide.
08:51 Climbing shots Martin is an ex-squaddie who served in Bosnia and learnt to climb in the army. He teaches other protesters and the children of amenable locals how to hoist themselves up the pine. And aerial walkways allow them to travel from tree to tree without touching the ground.
09:11 Martin’s v/o over walkway shots We use these walkways to get from tree to tree, always thinking of our safety first. We connect ourselves onto the top by using a cow’s tail.
09:26 Interview: Greg, walkways and climbers That’s what I normally use for climbing around on the ropes and everything. You normally attach yourself with a clip like this, so that if you do fall, you’ll only fall a couple of feet. The professional climbers, the tactics they use are to take this that you’re clipped onto, and clip it onto their own harness so that you can’t actually get away from them. And then they will strap a sling around you and drop you to the ground. So if you’re not wearing this it makes it much harder, but it also makes it more dangerous for me.
10:09 Safety meeting Protesters have come from all over the country. Many from other long term road protests. Martin though lives just a mile away.
10:19 Martin giving safety talk Burn through it and seal it like that one. I did that one up the tree earlier and I left that one and it has frayed. I’ve been up the tree twice and it has frayed. That is no good. Another thing is if they are communal harnesses, keep them on site, don’t go off with them. Because if we do have visitors, it is nice for the locals especially to come up and climb with us.
10:44 Interview: Greg Recently I’ve been spending more time in the tree than the last few weeks because we’ve been on pretty much constant alert. Even if they don’t come in the morning they could still come in at midday, lunchtime-ish, so it’s best to be in the trees.
11:06 Yellow bucket And staying in the trees means having to climb up to this, a toilet bucket 30 feet higher than the main treehouse. Its contents are stored in bottles around the tree: a noxious projectile to be thrown later on police climbers.
11:23 Interview: Jane I’ve got a little pink teapot and I wee in that, except some people don’t realise that that’s what it’s for and end up using it for making tea!
11:42 Jane’s v/o over music & end of day shots There have been local people fighting this for years, you know through paperwork and offices and courts and all that, and it’s still been ignored. So now we’re just saying look, we haven’t gone away and we still do disagree. You never know how long you’re going to be able to live here. We’ve had eviction alerts more or less the whole five months, we’ve not been sure whether we’ll be here tomorrow.
Fade to black
12:25 CB radio Can you tell them to go down into Sheep Dip and get everyone down at Kennet... they really need people down there, over.
12:38 Interview: Greg I’m just going to go down to the ground because we’ve heard over the CB that they’ve hit another camp at the North end of the route.
12:47 Manic listening to CB radio It would be good if we could get hold of you, the actions did start at 4.25 this morning, instead of coming up to 7 o’clock.Manic: Well, I wasn’t up then, I’m up now.Greg: Yes, it’s the best way to wake up in the morning.
13:06 Interview: Manic Kennet’s not very far from here, so if they draw a blank at Kennet they may just pull out and pull up here straight away. In which case somebody is going to have to haul the rope up.
13:17 Abseiling down While Manic waits on standby in the pine, some of the other protesters head off to the day’s eviction, like Matt, who sleeps in a different tree camp every night.
13:26 Interview: Matt,walking to Kennet In the end they got a bit suspicious and let the air horn off to warn everyone else in the camp. And the police just came out of nowhere, dozens of them, and they pretty quickly surrounded the camp. Then they went round slashing various ropes and quickly got reinforcements in, and they’ve cordoned it off.
13:59 Matt’s v/o over security guards arriving en masse The security guards have got no legal powers whatsoever. The only power they’ve got is as they are employed by the contractor, they can use reasonable force to get someone else to leave the contractor’s land. Which is what they have been doing.
14:16 Girl is pushed and punches security guard He just punched me! He just elbowed me in the ribs!Police: Now they have a job to do, as I have a job to do. My job is to referee and make sure that both sides...Yes right! And who are you paid by?Police: I’m paid by you, and at the moment you’re out of order.So why don’t you work for me then? Why don’t you find out who firebombed my car? Why don’t you find out who burgled my house, who ripped the ceiling off my house!Police: Now there’s no need to start punching people is there?No need to start punching people! So what do they do when you’re not here? Give us a clue officer... they punch us, they kick us, they push us down the bank.Police: Please don’t have a go at me because I’m on your side. I am here to make sure that you can peacefully protest.You’re on my side? Bollocks!
15.11 Security guards The security guards are told not even to speak to the protesters.
15:16 Interview: Mark Hurd,Former Security Guard They’ve got to do the job properly, because if they see that people aren’t really trying to keep the protesters out, or they seem to be slacking a little bit, they want you to keep on your toes.
15:30 Security guards And that goes for the white hats, who are the regular security guards, the red hats who are the foremen, the yellow hats who are the security company bosses and the green hats who are the local detective agency, trying to put names to faces.
15:55 Howie’s v/o over trees falling Why did nature consider that we had a niche? What is that? Are we fulfilling that niche? Are we behaving more like an organic growing cell or are we behaving like a cancer?
16:12 Girl talking to security guards We pray for your safety, we pray for a better life for all of you and that’s why we’re here. We have no grudges against you.
16:27 Music and climbers evicting protesters from treehouse .... He is tightening this handcuff in an effort to intimidate me....
Fade to black
17:13 Mick’s v/o over pheasants at Redding’s Copse I mean they don’t know what taking 20,000 mature trees out is going to do to the atmosphere. One in four kids in London has got asthma, which is totally unacceptable.
17:25 Ben taking off climbing harness Ben: Actually this isn’t my tape, I’m borrowing it.Who did you borrow it off?Ben: Well, I found it.So where did you find it?
17:37 Interview: Mick You can’t make that again. You can make that tin of tuna again, well the tin at least. Or you can make that Swiss army knife again, do you know what I mean. You can trash as many of them as you want... but you can’t make these trees again. You can’t make this environment again. It’s not going to be enough to say to people, ‘oh, we told you so!’ you know when they can’t breathe.
17:55 Ben helps climber with harness You can clip it onto there if you don’t want it to get in your way, unless you want to clip it onto there.
18:08 Interview: Howie If you took a five year old it would have quite a different consciousness from us anyway, because it would have been born so much more recently, it would really be more up to date on the state of things. And I think that kids that age were really born with a greater environmental awareness than we were.
18:26 Interview: Ben, climbing tree Do you know how to climb?Ben: Yes.Your Daddy taught you?Ben: No. I taught myself how to climb trees.That’s very brave of you isn’t it?Ben: That’s very brave of who?That’s very brave of you to climb the tree.Ben: Well, I’ve got all the safety clips and I’ve got all of the things to stay up with, so it’s easy to climb up here.
18:48 Interview: Howie You know, kids might be playing tree people and security men as they’re playing cowboys and Indians now. And you know they’ll want to be tree people as well, because they’re definitely the goodies.
19:03 Martin and his Mum Wendy at bottom of pine Martin: Right, Mother. Come here. These are prussocks, you know how to prussock?Oh, I know this.Martin: Go on, put your foot in there.How long ago did you learn to climb up?Wendy: Last week.Are you scared?Wendy: Not now.
19:25 Interview: Wendy We have done things in this campaign that we wouldn’t have dreamt of doing. I’ve had so many people in my house, on average about eleven at nighttime... they’re having baths, they’re eating, they’re driving me mad, but I love them all!
19:44 Interview: Martin I couldn’t afford my Mother a Mother’s Day present, so climbing this is the best thing that I could give to my mother. It’s all right for me to climb it every day and think ‘Oh God, another tree to climb!’ but to my mother it’s like something else.
19:57 Interview: Wendy Well, he knows himself, if he gets caught by the English police he’ll get court - marshaled as well, so....
20:05 Interview: Martin I’ll just say to them, why is it that I can go away and fight other people’s battles abroad, like in Bosnia and places like that, you know because the government say your regiment goes... all right fair enough, the regiment goes, it pays me, but this is right on my doorstep, why can’t I fight for this.
20:22 Protesters carrying cement up path to pine The contractors have built a shingle road to the tall pine at Redding’s Copse.
20.36 The road has been built to get in a huge crane, or ‘cherry picker’. It has been especially imported just for the tall pine.
Martin abseils down
20:46 Making concrete lock-ons The protesters are making lock-ons in the road: cementing metal rods into it, to handcuff or D-lock themselves. They use bicycle locks and sit in the path of the crane.
21:00 Interview: Martin So they’re going to have to clear people with D-locks at the trees and off the road as well, bring their cherry pickers up and that’s when the fun starts.
Protesters filling steel drum with cement
21:17 Interview: Martin What you do is... it’s illegal actually! What you do is you get six inch nails and you drive them into the tree at an angle, at a forty degree angle, away from the bark, so it’s actually inside the tree, but it doesn’t damage the tree at all. So when the chainsaw bloke comes in and he’s cutting away, he’ll come across nails.
21:36 Protester demonstrates lock-on That runs through there, and then you have a clip on your hand. You put it in there, clip it to the metal bar, and they can’t get you out.
21:48 Protesters digging ditch when police arrivePolice: How are you doing, all right? Are you putting a water main in?
Yes, yes, it’s a drainage ditch sir!
Police: Yes, I thought it was.
Yes, we’ve got a bit of a drainage problem around here.
Police: Yes?
You’ve got a bigger one down in the valley.
Police: You’re actually filming your work as well?
Yes, we’ve got film too.
22:30 This police patrol may appear powerless to stop such criminal activity, but persistent protesters do find themselves arrested, fined and even jailed for it.
Camp fortifications Britain’s most committed anti-roads activists are closely monitored by the anti-terrorist squad. That’s a far cry from the common perception of them as a bunch of hippies who can’t get a job.
22:52 Manic reads poem to protesters in pine I’m signing on and I must admitIt’s getting on my nervesFor Unemployment BenefitIs not what I deserve.I want a job with a living wageWhere I can just be me -Employed for what I amNot what others see.A freelance poet maybeBut this poem’s not too hot.I thought about the army but I don’t fancy getting shot.The money markets, maybe,But capital’s required.Perhaps a male model,But would I be desired?So I’m seeking work most avidlyAnd yet I must just say:Employers are not over keen When they find I’m NFA.[No Fixed Address]So here I am no home addressAnd also now no job.But still I just cannot believeI’m a lazy workshy slob.
23:25 Martin arguing Martin: We are outlaws... we’re fighting the Sheriff, we’re against the Sheriff. Like you think of Robin Hood, what was he against? He was against the Sheriff and he stole off the rich and gave to the poor...Yes, but we’re stealing their taxes according to some of the less informed members of the public...Martin: No, the government are stealing their taxes...He’s a taxpayer!Martin: Because they’ve never gone round to the Newbury people, they’ve never asked anybody: ‘Would you like a bypass?’
Voice of angry local on CB radio How long does it take you to get through Newbury on a Friday night? Two minutes? And what’s your mate doing in a car? I thought you were all against cars!
Martin on CB: That bloke who’s slagging the road protesters off, why do you sit at home... we’re not against the road at all, we’re against them cutting the trees down.Bollocks! Your mate earlier said you were against cars! Are you in a different tribe or something?
Fade to black
24:20 Redding’s Copse at misty dawn
24:49 Greg on CB radio spots police van in distance
Greg: This is Romeo Charlie, Romeo Charlie. One police van spotted on Enbourne Street, over...They’re on Enbourne Street!Greg: Sheep Dip! Security on Enbourne Street! Get up the trees!
25:08 Man sitting on tripod Overnight the protesters have erected tripods to lock-on to.
25:21 Jerry on CB in car All camps in the South... All camps in the South! Redding’s Copse. They’ve turned right. They’ve not gone to the Chase. They’re not going to Penwood. They’ve turned right. Redding’s Copse, on your toes! Pete, can you check with Redding’s Copse that they’ve received that, over.
25:39 Security arriving at Redding’s Copse Get those ropes up!
25:47 Greg listening to CB radio Have you any sign of bailiffs or climbers in your area, over.Greg: This is Romeo Charlie. Negative. No sign of Bailiffs or climbers as yet, over.All we do know is that Redding’s Copse is surrounded, over.
26:03 Diggers arriving at Redding’s Copse As droves of diggers roll in, the tree dwellers now wait to hear whether the police climbers are on their way. If not it will mean there will be no evictions with security just there to protect the machinery working on the ground.
26:26 The Grim Reaper preaching to security One motorway is going to have a long term effect on the whole planet. It’s going to influence the future of life on this planet. Every small action that you do has a reaction. So think about what you’re doing here. You’re basically slowly causing life to die on this planet.
26:52 Security guards singing songs about protesters Rockabye crusty on a treetop!...I was born under a Newbury star! I was born under a Newbury star! Wheels were made for rolling, rolling they will do... trees were made for cutting and the bypass will go through!
27:20 The Grim Reaper pops balloon and walks away Diggers moving logs The Grim Reaper walks away unheard, but he speaks for many... six and a half million British people are now members of environmental pressure groups. And increasingly just as it is right across Europe, direct action, or protest that breaks the law, is becoming the way they make their message heard.
27:42 Greg on lookout Greg! Climbers heading this way.Greg: What bailiffs?Climbers!
27:50 Protester on walkway To get the protesters out of the trees the police have to employ professional climbers. It’s a tactic which has bitterly divided the British climbing world. Police climbers arriving today will be forced to evict old friends who have joined the protesters up the pine.
28:08 Interview: Steve,Coates, Professional Climber The environment is an intrinsic part of climbing... it’s as simple as that. When we go out we’re obviously in a natural environment to climb and it’s just been sort of a rule: you take care of the environment, you take care of climbing. £200 a day they’re getting, £250 a day, to come down and haul people out of trees who are basically protesting to protect the environment. I’ve known a few of these people for maybe ten years, a long time. And they are, or they were, very good friends.
28:48 Pan pine to Middle Oak The climbers have just arrived at Middle Oak, which stands 200m from the pine.
28:52 Protesters on walkways up pine The protesters know what this means. If the climbers are here, it’s only a matter of time before the arrival of the tall ‘cherry picker’. Everyone now knows that the pine could fall before the end of the day. There are frenzied 11th hour fortifications, all designed to slow the climbers down.
29:14 Protester climbs through trap door What have you been up to?We’re building another walkway... I’m going up.
29:20 Interview: Howie on walkway We can stand behind the barricade on the walkway and gently discuss things with the climbers!
29:30 Police climber going up tree Meanwhile at Middle Oak the first police climber heads up the tree to face a barrage of hurled liquid of every description.
30:07 Interview: Manic We’re not doing anything that’s going to hurt any of them... it’s unpleasant, but then destroying the natural environment is unpleasant. I think the throwing of urine is quite a good symbol of just what we think of them.
30:30 Martin’s v/o over digger clearing road They took the people out of the tripods and arrested them. They got all the road clear. We’d dug holes as well, but they put mud into it as well to get the cherry pickers in. As you can see, they got their cherry pickers and their diggers in.
30:45 Interview: Martin All we do is just go up higher into the trees... we have D-locks, bicycle locks and whatnot and just D-lock ourselves to the trees. And I can see them running around now.
30:55 Protesters on walkways before evcitions start They’re running from the cherry pickers bringing the police climbers into the lower trees. In a matter of minutes climbers and protesters come head to head.
31:22 Song: ‘What are we doing here?’
31:43 Protesters in pine watch trees come down As the final trees come down around them, the protesters in the pine anxiously await their turn. Until, that is, fate deals a blow to the roadbuilders’ cause.
32:06 Tree falls on cherry picker and climber They have chopped down a tree onto one of the police climbers. And it’s also fallen onto the big cherry picker.
32:27 Interview: Martin They cut a tree down, it was my tree, and the treehouse actually... when they pushed it, it came down onto the arm. You can see the big arm over there. It came down onto the actual cherry picker, rolled off the cherry picker and then hit one of their climbers. So he’s been rushed to hospital. Hopefully he’s not that badly injured... but it serves him right for doing the horrible job of getting us out really..
32:52 Body carried away on stretcher
33:03 Cherry picker leaves There are hoots of jubilation as the roadbuilders turn tail and leave. It’s a humiliating end to a hard day’s slog, and after only 48 hours on the job, one of the police climbers has decided to quit.
33:18 Interview: Pete Bukowski,former police climber Well I started on Tuesday and decided to stop work today, which is now Thursday. Basically because the work was too stressful for what I wanted to do. I didn’t like getting urine thrown at me, and food, and banter from the protesters. Basically I can do other work and earn less money, which for me would be better.
33:43 Steve Coates’ v/o over security leaving We asked them to look at us and to give an answer why they were actually doing that, and they wouldn’t. Most of them were looking down, and they wouldn’t even actually hold any eye contact with you or anything. Basically they were ashamed of what they were doing.
34.03 Pan up to lonely pine The pine has earned one final reprieve and the protesters can hardly believe their luck.
34:08 Interview: Mick They won’t be back. Not tomorrow anyway. They’ve got to deal with that cherry picker first, and set up another massive operation so they can fail again.
34:26 Mick’s v/o over pine and sad music This tree’s survived four major storms... storms in 1880, we had a major storm in this country. And there was another storm in ‘87 in this country and it survived that.
34:46 Interview: Howie Your average person just sees a tree felled like it’s just the done thing. But it’s like seeing an elephant skinned or something. You know you should be really shocked to see a tree felled. But it’s become just a normal thing. People feel ‘oh, trees, you know, just make furniture.’
35:04 Interview: Manic It’s become a symbol, especially because it’s now stood here on its own, everything else has gone. It’s like the Somme down there, but we’re still up here.
35:18 Interview: Jane If there was public transport they wouldn’t need a bypass. If lorries had computer links so they didn’t have empty trucks they wouldn’t need a bypass. If there was a tunnel they wouldn’t need a bypass. And they’d have the best of both worlds. You know you could have it, it doesn’t have to be losing anything.
35:40 Interview: Manic This tree will cost them more to bring down than any other tree on route. And having said that, we are going to lose, eventually. It’s all about costing them and making sure that next time they plan a road scheme, we form a major part of the financial equations that they do. And then hopefully they might think about alternatives.
36:06 Interview: Howie Groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth actually validate direct action now, whereas before they were completely distancing themselves form any illegal activity. I mean it’s pushing the boundaries isn’t it?
36:25 Interview: Mark Hurd, former security guard It seemed like a small plan to me. It seemed like the road was nothing major, you know it was just a simple road. But now that I’ve worked here, and as I’ve seen what’s going on, it’s not just a road. It’s clearing all this woodland, there’s going to be all these sliproads. Eventually there’s going to be houses and industrial estates and it’s just to make the rich richer.
Fade to black
37:02 Land rovers arrive By 6 am a few days later the inevitable has happened. Redding’s Copse is surrounded. Since the last attempt the tree has become an embarrassment for the roadbuilders. Now they’re determined to get the protesters out of the pine.
37:19 Protester on CB in pine Above the treehouse a helicopter with thermal cameras flies low overhead.to It’s used to count how many people are in the tree
37:28 Interview: Manic Well security have turned up and they’ve put a cordon right the way around, beside the remaining trees. And we’re waiting for them to bring their climbers and their cherry pickers in to try and start getting us out.
37:45 Drumming and climbers in riot gear arrive Climbers in riot gear soon arrive. They make light work of the hastily constructed defenses at the base of the pine and the protesters make last ditch attempts to persuade the climbers not to go through with the eviction.
38:02 Interview: Greg They’ll probably come and warn us that we are free to leave of our own accord, and if we choose to stay we will be arrested for obstruction of the Sheriff.
38:18 Zoom into protester locked-on to ladder at top of pine As the first climbers board one of the four cherry pickers here today, one protester locks himself by the neck to the ladder strapped precariously to the top of the pine, 165 feet up in the air.
38:38 Interview: Jud So what are you making there?They’re whips to try and keep the chainsaws away from the branches. Because if some of this rope gets in the chainsaw it just tangles it up.
38:57 Pan down packed tree The protesters station themselves the entire length of the pine but they are severely outnumbered. Each cherry picker will come for a different part of the tree.
39:10 Song: ‘Sold us down the river’ over eviction
40.57 More than seven hundred protesters have been arrested but like every other tree along the route, the pine’s fate is sealed. The most unpopular road in British history will be built, but it has cost the British taxpayer £9.6 million to police it.
41:20 Protester breaks through cordon The security cordon is broken. A protester makes one last rush to stop the felling. A futile gesture of a growing and angry movement but it’s not enough to save the pine.
Pine falls
41:57 Song: ‘What are we doing here?’
42:53 ENDS
Wars of the British Tree People
Script
Directed and Produced by Keely Purdue & Mark Stucke
A JOURNEYMAN PICTURES Production
10:00:00:00 Snowy pine,singing
00:30 Title shot -tree and fire(singing ends)
00:45 Jerry on car phone We’re approaching Redding’s now. We’ll let you know if we see anything crazy.
00:53 This is Newbury, an hour and a half outside London.
01:06 Protesters by fire inside treehouse
High up in tree houses anti - roads protesters wait to hear which tree camps the police will go to today.
01:13 Trees
They’ve been here throughout one of the coldest winter’s on record, trying to stop ancient woodland being cut down to make way for a new road. Here, at a camp called Redding’s Copse stands the tallest tree along the route of the proposed Newbury bypass.
01:26 Jerry on CB in car
Jerry is a look-out on the ground. He and his family watch for signs of early movement from an army of private security guards.
01:35 Jerry’s son stops filming
Hey! Leave it away!
01:38 Convoy spotted
With over 30 tree camps along the 9 1/2 mile route it’s difficult to know which trees will be targeted toady. A convoy of diggers is spotted. It’s time to move.
01:54 Interview: Greg Basically there are people monitoring the route. They’re driving around in their own vehicles following the security as they leave and by process of elimination see which road they take. Then we can narrow it down to two or three camps.
01:13 Manic fixing treehouse
The tallest tree is a majestic Corsican pine. The police haven’t appeared at Redding’s Copse today. So Manic is fixing some holes in the treehouse.
02:36 Interview: Greg It is quite good fun as well. It’s a bit of an experience. It’s a bit like being in the boy scouts. But we definitely take it very seriously because there’s quite a lot at stake here.
02:58 Jerry climbs tree
Jerry, the look-out from the car leaves son Ben on the ground to join today’s evictions.
Jerry singing up tree
Do what I tell you or I’ll give you the sack!
03:13
For over three months, road protesters have fought each day with 1000 security guards, police and professional climbers in England’s biggest anti-road protest ever.
03:22 Song: What are we doing here? And fighting in trees
03:57 The £101 million bypass will cut 2 minutes off the time it takes to drive through Newbury during rush hour.
04:31 Tree eviction
Hattie: We’re in a tree being evicted and there’s a climber coming up who’s just down there.
Climber: It looks fairly cosy in there.
Hattie: What is he going to do next I wonder? What are you doing up a tree the?
Climber: For the money.
Hattie: For the money? That’s worthwhile. But you don’t need money.
Climber: I do. I shouldn’t have to should I? But I’m conditioned.
Hattie: We haven’t got any money and we’re quite happy.
Climber: I know.
Hattie: Well the climber’s friend is just underneath him now so there are two climbers outside the treehouse...
Anne: (tarpaulin pulled off)Hello sky! Hello people in the top of the tree.
Climber: Have we got to go home then?
Hattie: They’ve pulled everything down and now they’re going home!
Climber: He’s just said leave them. We’re just trashing the treehouse and leaving the people.
Anne: You can come and do it all again tomorrow.
05:33 Works stops each day at 5 o’ clock.
05:39 Hattie: They’ve finished work.I don’t believe you.
Hattie: No they’ve gone. They’ve gone home.
Fade to black
06:01 Evening in pine
Later on at Redding’s Copse, Martin, a Newbury local fills the others in on the day’s events.
06:08 Martin telling others about day They’ve actually hit Mary Hare, Gotan, Snelsmore, the whole caboodle around that area. But they were saying that if you actually get underneath the branch and D - lock your neck to it, they can’t cut the branch, they can’t cut straight into your D - lock, because you’ll fall. And you know King Arthur? You know he got arrested with his sword? They took the sword off him and then they realised that he’s allowed to have his sword because it’s part of his religion. So they gave it back to him and do you know what they did him for? ‘Offensive weapon’ and they took his pocket knife off him! (laughter)
06:51 Interview: Howie
We’re not organised, we have no leaders and no hierarchy, we’re just doing it for love. There’s a bond of love between everyone. That’s the thing about this campaign, this whole lifestyle. There’s a real feeling of respect. And there’s respect for people you don’t even know. You just bump into them and there’s a feeling of respect there. And that’s why we’re strong.
07:22 Interview: Jane This is Redding’s Copse and this is more or less in the middle of the route. There are probably about 30 camps all over the place. As you can see it’s got the tallest tree on route... which is right next to the tree that I live in.
07:51 Interview: Greg It took five days to build this, the
floor went down in about two days and then the walls and then the bender poles here and the tarps over the top.
08:06 Greg’s v/o over him & Howie hauling up planks I used to work as a builder and so I know a little bit about structural support... but it’s just there are no straight lines on a tree. You know, trying to find a level place between two branches all the way around the tree is quite difficult. It’s not quite level, it’s sloping slightly towards that direction, but I‘m only pointing that out because I’m a bit of a perfectionist!
08:33 Martin teaching children to climb Going up trees like that: don’t even try it all right? It takes two minutes to just tidy your knots up... Always, before you climb, just pull down on your knots, so that you know your knots are going to slide.
08:51 Climbing shots Martin is an ex-squaddie who served in Bosnia and learnt to climb in the army. He teaches other protesters and the children of amenable locals how to hoist themselves up the pine. And aerial walkways allow them to travel from tree to tree without touching the ground.
09:11 Martin’s v/o over walkway shots We use these walkways to get from tree to tree, always thinking of our safety first. We connect ourselves onto the top by using a cow’s tail.
09:26 Interview: Greg, walkways and climbers That’s what I normally use for climbing around on the ropes and everything. You normally attach yourself with a clip like this, so that if you do fall, you’ll only fall a couple of feet. The professional climbers, the tactics they use are to take this that you’re clipped onto, and clip it onto their own harness so that you can’t actually get away from them. And then they will strap a sling around you and drop you to the ground. So if you’re not wearing this it makes it much harder, but it also makes it more dangerous for me.
10:09 Safety meeting Protesters have come from all over the country. Many from other long term road protests. Martin though lives just a mile away.
10:19 Martin giving safety talk Burn through it and seal it like that one. I did that one up the tree earlier and I left that one and it has frayed. I’ve been up the tree twice and it has frayed. That is no good. Another thing is if they are communal harnesses, keep them on site, don’t go off with them. Because if we do have visitors, it is nice for the locals especially to come up and climb with us.
10:44 Interview: Greg Recently I’ve been spending more time in the tree than the last few weeks because we’ve been on pretty much constant alert. Even if they don’t come in the morning they could still come in at midday, lunchtime-ish, so it’s best to be in the trees.
11:06 Yellow bucket And staying in the trees means having to climb up to this, a toilet bucket 30 feet higher than the main treehouse. Its contents are stored in bottles around the tree: a noxious projectile to be thrown later on police climbers.
11:23 Interview: Jane I’ve got a little pink teapot and I wee in that, except some people don’t realise that that’s what it’s for and end up using it for making tea!
11:42 Jane’s v/o over music & end of day shots There have been local people fighting this for years, you know through paperwork and offices and courts and all that, and it’s still been ignored. So now we’re just saying look, we haven’t gone away and we still do disagree. You never know how long you’re going to be able to live here. We’ve had eviction alerts more or less the whole five months, we’ve not been sure whether we’ll be here tomorrow.
Fade to black
12:25 CB radio Can you tell them to go down into Sheep Dip and get everyone down at Kennet... they really need people down there, over.
12:38 Interview: Greg I’m just going to go down to the ground because we’ve heard over the CB that they’ve hit another camp at the North end of the route.
12:47 Manic listening to CB radio It would be good if we could get hold of you, the actions did start at 4.25 this morning, instead of coming up to 7 o’clock.Manic: Well, I wasn’t up then, I’m up now.Greg: Yes, it’s the best way to wake up in the morning.
13:06 Interview: Manic Kennet’s not very far from here, so if they draw a blank at Kennet they may just pull out and pull up here straight away. In which case somebody is going to have to haul the rope up.
13:17 Abseiling down While Manic waits on standby in the pine, some of the other protesters head off to the day’s eviction, like Matt, who sleeps in a different tree camp every night.
13:26 Interview: Matt,walking to Kennet In the end they got a bit suspicious and let the air horn off to warn everyone else in the camp. And the police just came out of nowhere, dozens of them, and they pretty quickly surrounded the camp. Then they went round slashing various ropes and quickly got reinforcements in, and they’ve cordoned it off.
13:59 Matt’s v/o over security guards arriving en masse The security guards have got no legal powers whatsoever. The only power they’ve got is as they are employed by the contractor, they can use reasonable force to get someone else to leave the contractor’s land. Which is what they have been doing.
14:16 Girl is pushed and punches security guard He just punched me! He just elbowed me in the ribs!Police: Now they have a job to do, as I have a job to do. My job is to referee and make sure that both sides...Yes right! And who are you paid by?Police: I’m paid by you, and at the moment you’re out of order.So why don’t you work for me then? Why don’t you find out who firebombed my car? Why don’t you find out who burgled my house, who ripped the ceiling off my house!Police: Now there’s no need to start punching people is there?No need to start punching people! So what do they do when you’re not here? Give us a clue officer... they punch us, they kick us, they push us down the bank.Police: Please don’t have a go at me because I’m on your side. I am here to make sure that you can peacefully protest.You’re on my side? Bollocks!
15.11 Security guards The security guards are told not even to speak to the protesters.
15:16 Interview: Mark Hurd,Former Security Guard They’ve got to do the job properly, because if they see that people aren’t really trying to keep the protesters out, or they seem to be slacking a little bit, they want you to keep on your toes.
15:30 Security guards And that goes for the white hats, who are the regular security guards, the red hats who are the foremen, the yellow hats who are the security company bosses and the green hats who are the local detective agency, trying to put names to faces.
15:55 Howie’s v/o over trees falling Why did nature consider that we had a niche? What is that? Are we fulfilling that niche? Are we behaving more like an organic growing cell or are we behaving like a cancer?
16:12 Girl talking to security guards We pray for your safety, we pray for a better life for all of you and that’s why we’re here. We have no grudges against you.
16:27 Music and climbers evicting protesters from treehouse .... He is tightening this handcuff in an effort to intimidate me....
Fade to black
17:13 Mick’s v/o over pheasants at Redding’s Copse I mean they don’t know what taking 20,000 mature trees out is going to do to the atmosphere. One in four kids in London has got asthma, which is totally unacceptable.
17:25 Ben taking off climbing harness Ben: Actually this isn’t my tape, I’m borrowing it.Who did you borrow it off?Ben: Well, I found it.So where did you find it?
17:37 Interview: Mick You can’t make that again. You can make that tin of tuna again, well the tin at least. Or you can make that Swiss army knife again, do you know what I mean. You can trash as many of them as you want... but you can’t make these trees again. You can’t make this environment again. It’s not going to be enough to say to people, ‘oh, we told you so!’ you know when they can’t breathe.
17:55 Ben helps climber with harness You can clip it onto there if you don’t want it to get in your way, unless you want to clip it onto there.
18:08 Interview: Howie If you took a five year old it would have quite a different consciousness from us anyway, because it would have been born so much more recently, it would really be more up to date on the state of things. And I think that kids that age were really born with a greater environmental awareness than we were.
18:26 Interview: Ben, climbing tree Do you know how to climb?Ben: Yes.Your Daddy taught you?Ben: No. I taught myself how to climb trees.That’s very brave of you isn’t it?Ben: That’s very brave of who?That’s very brave of you to climb the tree.Ben: Well, I’ve got all the safety clips and I’ve got all of the things to stay up with, so it’s easy to climb up here.
18:48 Interview: Howie You know, kids might be playing tree people and security men as they’re playing cowboys and Indians now. And you know they’ll want to be tree people as well, because they’re definitely the goodies.
19:03 Martin and his Mum Wendy at bottom of pine Martin: Right, Mother. Come here. These are prussocks, you know how to prussock?Oh, I know this.Martin: Go on, put your foot in there.How long ago did you learn to climb up?Wendy: Last week.Are you scared?Wendy: Not now.
19:25 Interview: Wendy We have done things in this campaign that we wouldn’t have dreamt of doing. I’ve had so many people in my house, on average about eleven at nighttime... they’re having baths, they’re eating, they’re driving me mad, but I love them all!
19:44 Interview: Martin I couldn’t afford my Mother a Mother’s Day present, so climbing this is the best thing that I could give to my mother. It’s all right for me to climb it every day and think ‘Oh God, another tree to climb!’ but to my mother it’s like something else.
19:57 Interview: Wendy Well, he knows himself, if he gets caught by the English police he’ll get court - marshaled as well, so....
20:05 Interview: Martin I’ll just say to them, why is it that I can go away and fight other people’s battles abroad, like in Bosnia and places like that, you know because the government say your regiment goes... all right fair enough, the regiment goes, it pays me, but this is right on my doorstep, why can’t I fight for this.
20:22 Protesters carrying cement up path to pine The contractors have built a shingle road to the tall pine at Redding’s Copse.
20.36 The road has been built to get in a huge crane, or ‘cherry picker’. It has been especially imported just for the tall pine.
Martin abseils down
20:46 Making concrete lock-ons The protesters are making lock-ons in the road: cementing metal rods into it, to handcuff or D-lock themselves. They use bicycle locks and sit in the path of the crane.
21:00 Interview: Martin So they’re going to have to clear people with D-locks at the trees and off the road as well, bring their cherry pickers up and that’s when the fun starts.
Protesters filling steel drum with cement
21:17 Interview: Martin What you do is... it’s illegal actually! What you do is you get six inch nails and you drive them into the tree at an angle, at a forty degree angle, away from the bark, so it’s actually inside the tree, but it doesn’t damage the tree at all. So when the chainsaw bloke comes in and he’s cutting away, he’ll come across nails.
21:36 Protester demonstrates lock-on That runs through there, and then you have a clip on your hand. You put it in there, clip it to the metal bar, and they can’t get you out.
21:48 Protesters digging ditch when police arrivePolice: How are you doing, all right? Are you putting a water main in?
Yes, yes, it’s a drainage ditch sir!
Police: Yes, I thought it was.
Yes, we’ve got a bit of a drainage problem around here.
Police: Yes?
You’ve got a bigger one down in the valley.
Police: You’re actually filming your work as well?
Yes, we’ve got film too.
22:30 This police patrol may appear powerless to stop such criminal activity, but persistent protesters do find themselves arrested, fined and even jailed for it.
Camp fortifications Britain’s most committed anti-roads activists are closely monitored by the anti-terrorist squad. That’s a far cry from the common perception of them as a bunch of hippies who can’t get a job.
22:52 Manic reads poem to protesters in pine I’m signing on and I must admitIt’s getting on my nervesFor Unemployment BenefitIs not what I deserve.I want a job with a living wageWhere I can just be me -Employed for what I amNot what others see.A freelance poet maybeBut this poem’s not too hot.I thought about the army but I don’t fancy getting shot.The money markets, maybe,But capital’s required.Perhaps a male model,But would I be desired?So I’m seeking work most avidlyAnd yet I must just say:Employers are not over keen When they find I’m NFA.[No Fixed Address]So here I am no home addressAnd also now no job.But still I just cannot believeI’m a lazy workshy slob.
23:25 Martin arguing Martin: We are outlaws... we’re fighting the Sheriff, we’re against the Sheriff. Like you think of Robin Hood, what was he against? He was against the Sheriff and he stole off the rich and gave to the poor...Yes, but we’re stealing their taxes according to some of the less informed members of the public...Martin: No, the government are stealing their taxes...He’s a taxpayer!Martin: Because they’ve never gone round to the Newbury people, they’ve never asked anybody: ‘Would you like a bypass?’
Voice of angry local on CB radio How long does it take you to get through Newbury on a Friday night? Two minutes? And what’s your mate doing in a car? I thought you were all against cars!
Martin on CB: That bloke who’s slagging the road protesters off, why do you sit at home... we’re not against the road at all, we’re against them cutting the trees down.Bollocks! Your mate earlier said you were against cars! Are you in a different tribe or something?
Fade to black
24:20 Redding’s Copse at misty dawn
24:49 Greg on CB radio spots police van in distance
Greg: This is Romeo Charlie, Romeo Charlie. One police van spotted on Enbourne Street, over...They’re on Enbourne Street!Greg: Sheep Dip! Security on Enbourne Street! Get up the trees!
25:08 Man sitting on tripod Overnight the protesters have erected tripods to lock-on to.
25:21 Jerry on CB in car All camps in the South... All camps in the South! Redding’s Copse. They’ve turned right. They’ve not gone to the Chase. They’re not going to Penwood. They’ve turned right. Redding’s Copse, on your toes! Pete, can you check with Redding’s Copse that they’ve received that, over.
25:39 Security arriving at Redding’s Copse Get those ropes up!
25:47 Greg listening to CB radio Have you any sign of bailiffs or climbers in your area, over.Greg: This is Romeo Charlie. Negative. No sign of Bailiffs or climbers as yet, over.All we do know is that Redding’s Copse is surrounded, over.
26:03 Diggers arriving at Redding’s Copse As droves of diggers roll in, the tree dwellers now wait to hear whether the police climbers are on their way. If not it will mean there will be no evictions with security just there to protect the machinery working on the ground.
26:26 The Grim Reaper preaching to security One motorway is going to have a long term effect on the whole planet. It’s going to influence the future of life on this planet. Every small action that you do has a reaction. So think about what you’re doing here. You’re basically slowly causing life to die on this planet.
26:52 Security guards singing songs about protesters Rockabye crusty on a treetop!...I was born under a Newbury star! I was born under a Newbury star! Wheels were made for rolling, rolling they will do... trees were made for cutting and the bypass will go through!
27:20 The Grim Reaper pops balloon and walks away Diggers moving logs The Grim Reaper walks away unheard, but he speaks for many... six and a half million British people are now members of environmental pressure groups. And increasingly just as it is right across Europe, direct action, or protest that breaks the law, is becoming the way they make their message heard.
27:42 Greg on lookout Greg! Climbers heading this way.Greg: What bailiffs?Climbers!
27:50 Protester on walkway To get the protesters out of the trees the police have to employ professional climbers. It’s a tactic which has bitterly divided the British climbing world. Police climbers arriving today will be forced to evict old friends who have joined the protesters up the pine.
28:08 Interview: Steve,Coates, Professional Climber The environment is an intrinsic part of climbing... it’s as simple as that. When we go out we’re obviously in a natural environment to climb and it’s just been sort of a rule: you take care of the environment, you take care of climbing. £200 a day they’re getting, £250 a day, to come down and haul people out of trees who are basically protesting to protect the environment. I’ve known a few of these people for maybe ten years, a long time. And they are, or they were, very good friends.
28:48 Pan pine to Middle Oak The climbers have just arrived at Middle Oak, which stands 200m from the pine.
28:52 Protesters on walkways up pine The protesters know what this means. If the climbers are here, it’s only a matter of time before the arrival of the tall ‘cherry picker’. Everyone now knows that the pine could fall before the end of the day. There are frenzied 11th hour fortifications, all designed to slow the climbers down.
29:14 Protester climbs through trap door What have you been up to?We’re building another walkway... I’m going up.
29:20 Interview: Howie on walkway We can stand behind the barricade on the walkway and gently discuss things with the climbers!
29:30 Police climber going up tree Meanwhile at Middle Oak the first police climber heads up the tree to face a barrage of hurled liquid of every description.
30:07 Interview: Manic We’re not doing anything that’s going to hurt any of them... it’s unpleasant, but then destroying the natural environment is unpleasant. I think the throwing of urine is quite a good symbol of just what we think of them.
30:30 Martin’s v/o over digger clearing road They took the people out of the tripods and arrested them. They got all the road clear. We’d dug holes as well, but they put mud into it as well to get the cherry pickers in. As you can see, they got their cherry pickers and their diggers in.
30:45 Interview: Martin All we do is just go up higher into the trees... we have D-locks, bicycle locks and whatnot and just D-lock ourselves to the trees. And I can see them running around now.
30:55 Protesters on walkways before evcitions start They’re running from the cherry pickers bringing the police climbers into the lower trees. In a matter of minutes climbers and protesters come head to head.
31:22 Song: ‘What are we doing here?’
31:43 Protesters in pine watch trees come down As the final trees come down around them, the protesters in the pine anxiously await their turn. Until, that is, fate deals a blow to the roadbuilders’ cause.
32:06 Tree falls on cherry picker and climber They have chopped down a tree onto one of the police climbers. And it’s also fallen onto the big cherry picker.
32:27 Interview: Martin They cut a tree down, it was my tree, and the treehouse actually... when they pushed it, it came down onto the arm. You can see the big arm over there. It came down onto the actual cherry picker, rolled off the cherry picker and then hit one of their climbers. So he’s been rushed to hospital. Hopefully he’s not that badly injured... but it serves him right for doing the horrible job of getting us out really..
32:52 Body carried away on stretcher
33:03 Cherry picker leaves There are hoots of jubilation as the roadbuilders turn tail and leave. It’s a humiliating end to a hard day’s slog, and after only 48 hours on the job, one of the police climbers has decided to quit.
33:18 Interview: Pete Bukowski,former police climber Well I started on Tuesday and decided to stop work today, which is now Thursday. Basically because the work was too stressful for what I wanted to do. I didn’t like getting urine thrown at me, and food, and banter from the protesters. Basically I can do other work and earn less money, which for me would be better.
33:43 Steve Coates’ v/o over security leaving We asked them to look at us and to give an answer why they were actually doing that, and they wouldn’t. Most of them were looking down, and they wouldn’t even actually hold any eye contact with you or anything. Basically they were ashamed of what they were doing.
34.03 Pan up to lonely pine The pine has earned one final reprieve and the protesters can hardly believe their luck.
34:08 Interview: Mick They won’t be back. Not tomorrow anyway. They’ve got to deal with that cherry picker first, and set up another massive operation so they can fail again.
34:26 Mick’s v/o over pine and sad music This tree’s survived four major storms... storms in 1880, we had a major storm in this country. And there was another storm in ‘87 in this country and it survived that.
34:46 Interview: Howie Your average person just sees a tree felled like it’s just the done thing. But it’s like seeing an elephant skinned or something. You know you should be really shocked to see a tree felled. But it’s become just a normal thing. People feel ‘oh, trees, you know, just make furniture.’
35:04 Interview: Manic It’s become a symbol, especially because it’s now stood here on its own, everything else has gone. It’s like the Somme down there, but we’re still up here.
35:18 Interview: Jane If there was public transport they wouldn’t need a bypass. If lorries had computer links so they didn’t have empty trucks they wouldn’t need a bypass. If there was a tunnel they wouldn’t need a bypass. And they’d have the best of both worlds. You know you could have it, it doesn’t have to be losing anything.
35:40 Interview: Manic This tree will cost them more to bring down than any other tree on route. And having said that, we are going to lose, eventually. It’s all about costing them and making sure that next time they plan a road scheme, we form a major part of the financial equations that they do. And then hopefully they might think about alternatives.
36:06 Interview: Howie Groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth actually validate direct action now, whereas before they were completely distancing themselves form any illegal activity. I mean it’s pushing the boundaries isn’t it?
36:25 Interview: Mark Hurd, former security guard It seemed like a small plan to me. It seemed like the road was nothing major, you know it was just a simple road. But now that I’ve worked here, and as I’ve seen what’s going on, it’s not just a road. It’s clearing all this woodland, there’s going to be all these sliproads. Eventually there’s going to be houses and industrial estates and it’s just to make the rich richer.
Fade to black
37:02 Land rovers arrive By 6 am a few days later the inevitable has happened. Redding’s Copse is surrounded. Since the last attempt the tree has become an embarrassment for the roadbuilders. Now they’re determined to get the protesters out of the pine.
37:19 Protester on CB in pine Above the treehouse a helicopter with thermal cameras flies low overhead.to It’s used to count how many people are in the tree
37:28 Interview: Manic Well security have turned up and they’ve put a cordon right the way around, beside the remaining trees. And we’re waiting for them to bring their climbers and their cherry pickers in to try and start getting us out.
37:45 Drumming and climbers in riot gear arrive Climbers in riot gear soon arrive. They make light work of the hastily constructed defenses at the base of the pine and the protesters make last ditch attempts to persuade the climbers not to go through with the eviction.
38:02 Interview: Greg They’ll probably come and warn us that we are free to leave of our own accord, and if we choose to stay we will be arrested for obstruction of the Sheriff.
38:18 Zoom into protester locked-on to ladder at top of pine As the first climbers board one of the four cherry pickers here today, one protester locks himself by the neck to the ladder strapped precariously to the top of the pine, 165 feet up in the air.
38:38 Interview: Jud So what are you making there?They’re whips to try and keep the chainsaws away from the branches. Because if some of this rope gets in the chainsaw it just tangles it up.
38:57 Pan down packed tree The protesters station themselves the entire length of the pine but they are severely outnumbered. Each cherry picker will come for a different part of the tree.
39:10 Song: ‘Sold us down the river’ over eviction
40.57 More than seven hundred protesters have been arrested but like every other tree along the route, the pine’s fate is sealed. The most unpopular road in British history will be built, but it has cost the British taxpayer £9.6 million to police it.
41:20 Protester breaks through cordon The security cordon is broken. A protester makes one last rush to stop the felling. A futile gesture of a growing and angry movement but it’s not enough to save the pine.
Pine falls
41:57 Song: ‘What are we doing here?’
42:53 ENDS