Normally I nominate a particular individual who’s displayed Darwin awards levels of stupidity, but this week’s award is a collective one that goes to all those involved with Hs2Rebellion and their latest stupid stunt at Euston, where they claim to have set up their 6th ‘protection’ camp. Here’s the nonsense posted by HS2 Rebellion on their Facebook page.
Anyone who knows anything about the Euston station area and the plans for HS2 will spot the rather obvious flaw in their plans…
This tiny bunch, which includes serial muppet Larch Maxey, whose record of failing to stop anything dates back to 1995 and the motorway around Burnley in Lancashire. But then this is the man who was flummoxed by a pair of electronic doors which he’s failed to superglue himself to, so it’s hardly surprising he’s made yet another hilarious gaffe.
Their problem? The trees they’ve climbed may be at Euston, but they’re on the South-Eastern side – which is outside the boundary and worksites of Hs2! They could sit up there until doomsday – it won’t affect HS2 in the slightest! Here’s a look at the area.
You have to laugh as this isn’t the first time HS2rebellion have set up ‘protection’ camps that don’t protect anything that’s actually under threat. Poors Piece at Calvert is another example. It’s half a mile from HS2 work as it sits next to East-West rail.
These farcical events won’t stop Hs2 in the slightest, they merely illustrate how inept the remaining anti Hs2 protesters are. Many of the original protesters have had their wings clipped by injunctions or through bail conditions set after them being arrested for futile stunts.
Now the nesting season is coming to an end we can expect to see Hs2’s contractors begin to remove the final small areas of woodland that need to be cleared to begin construction of the railway. This will leave the protesters not up a tree – but certainly up shit creek! I don’t expect the protests to survive such a PR failure. Their rhetoric’s become increasingly shrill and out of touch with reality over the past few weeks as they’ve suffered failure after failure – whilst claiming they’re ‘winning’.
Watch the farce become even more pronounced before winter sets in…
2023 update.
The Euston protesters were evicted in a blaze of publicity in January 2021. Some huddled in a tunnel under the gardens with the last one giving up and coming out 31 days after the tunnel was discovered. They didn’t achieve anything, nor did they stop anything. After the eviction the gardens were secured as the site wasn’t going to be needed for a temporary taxi-rank until now – May 2023 over two years after the protesters were evicted! The protests actually backfired as the evictions were carried out at the height of the Covid pandemic when London was in lockdown. The protesters and their supporters ignored lockdown and put the safety of emergency services, police and HS2 workers at risk. Evidence of this helped HS2 Ltd secure the route-wide injunction granted in October 2022. But. by then the protests had already collapsed as all the squatter camps along the route had been evicted or abandoned. It was all one big waste of time and money. They never stopped a thing.
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And familiar faces as well, so who’s manning the existing camps??
I didn’t realise the protesting rules allowed you to set up camp places that AREN’T going to be affected. I’m going to protest on the beachfront in Barbados, that’ll show them! Now, where do I apply for some of this cash raised to set up protect camps…
All we hear is negativity from these groups. I would find their appeals more rational if they offered something constructive to counter claims of “wanton destruction”.
For example they claim irrespective of how many trees HS2 plant, its not the answer as these new trees will die. The suggestion being that the new planting is abandoned and fails to thrive.
Why cant these activists suggest to HS2 (and others) that they could do something positive, such as helping in the nurtuting of the new plantations, helping them to thrive, into diverse habitat. In that way rather than blocking HS2 at every turn they might just push HS2 to be even more diligent in its envrionmental approach, they may even gain a more sympathetic ear in some quarters for a more balanced approach.
Or could it be that its not about change, but the ongoing publicity and self serving promotion?
Paul I wonder are you in favour of HS2 or against it?
I can’t tell if it’s the tactics themselves which you find frustrating and if so, what tactics would you suggest to stop this heinous project from going ahead?
If you want to “stop this heinous project from going ahead” then how about coming up with a viable alternative to the lack of space on the West Coast Main Line. Many have tried, but only HS2 is a practical option.
My guess is that like many in the Green Party and those from XR, the answer is “Build a motorway. Cars=good. Mass transit=bad”.
Really? I would have thought my position on HS2 was obvious! As for your question, it’s quite simple. You can’t stop HS2. You don’t have the political support, you don’t have the organisation and the protests on the ground are nothing less than futile. A handful of people sat up trees whilst spouting nonsense on social media may get a few ‘likes’ from other equally misinformed people but that means nothing in the real world. The camps are being cleared, one by one, without having achieved anything. It’s all over bar the moaning now.