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The eviction of the sole remaining outpost of the HS2 ‘rebellion’ began in the early hours of this morning when Bailiffs, security and Police moved in on the woods known as Cash’s Pit near Swynnerton in Staffordshire. It appears the few remaining protesters were taken by surprise, not only at ‘Bluebell’ camp (which was already under a High Court injunction) but also at the protesters satellite camp nearby, which they’d assumed was safe. Their ignorance and complacency was their undoing as HS2 security soon began to surround ‘Bluebell B’ with Heras fencing. The message to the protesters was simple. You can leave, but you’re not coming back – and you’re not getting supplies or reinforcements.
Meanwhile, at the original Bluebell camp Bailiffs and security moved in to begin dismantling the camp and removing any people foolish enough to have defied the High Court injunction. This is believed to be a mere handful as many ‘old faces’ had slunk off recently, leaving only a skeleton presence behind. It’s unclear just how many there are in either camp but the total is looking like it’s less than a dozen.
Of course, the protesters are trying to exaggerate these totals and claim that many people made it into tunnels and up trees. Not that it really matters as this is only going to end one way – just as it did in the other camps that were evicted one by one. Now this is the last act in the farce as there’s no more camps left and later this month the High Court in Birmingham will rule on HS2 Ltd’s application for a route-wide injunction which will ensure there won’t be any more if the injunction’s granted. You can find details of the injunction here.
What’s very telling is that on this occasion there’s so few livestreams coming from the protesters or their remaining supporters. Plus hardly anyone’s watching the ones that are being streamed. Mind you, as much of what’s being broadcast is coming from boring motor-mouth and ‘barrack-room lawyer’ Jim Knaggs that’s hardly surprising. There’s more repetition here than in morning prayers at a Monastery! What’s also clear is that the Bailiff’s and Police have already removed and/or arrested several people. How long the farce will drag is anyone’s guess, but I suspect it won’t be long – especially as the ‘rebellion’ is so weak nowadays.
Here’s one of the handful of people at Bluebell ‘B’ being detained, arrested and taken away earlier this afternoon as reported by ‘Drew’ (not his real name) who’s one of the few who were in the camp at the time.
Note how few comments and shares there are!
I’ll keep you posted on events…
Day 2 update.
The protesters were caught with their pants down. Both camps were virtually deserted. Several people have already gjven up and either been arrested or left voluntarily. No-one is in the trees and it’s believed there’s only two people in tunnels. Bailiffs are in possession of everything above ground at Bluebell and Bluebell B is cut off.
Morale is clearly at rock-bottom as even the protesters realise it’s a lost cause. They’re isolated and alone, completely outnumbered – and wasting their time. This could all be over very quickly.
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Amazing news. Let them get on with building hs2, it’s so vital to improving railways.
Even “Drew” laughed at the 40 number someone gave the BBC.
It seems they’re quite annoyed at the eviction; more so than usual – I suspect they’ve been caught with their proverbials down and they’ve been unable to get as many people into their “defences” as they hoped.
Quite. My more informed sources would laugh at that too. I understand that only two people made it into a tunnel. Their media draw “Swampy” isn’t one. He turned up when the eviction was threatened but went home again. There’s been a lot less to-ing and fro-ing from the camp in recent weeks due to people leaving and not coming back. Bluebell B has become a cage for a tiny handful of protesters, one of whom gave up late last night. It’s a case of “will the last one to leave turn out the lights”…
Hey Paul, aren’t you the n*nce that got sacked from the HS2 propaganda job? How does it feel to not even be good enough to push lies for a project wasting £200 Billion of public money, that will be used, according to HS2 figures, by about 11,000 people annually?!
I’ve approved this reply for the simple reason that it illustrates what sort of unpleasant, obsessive (and libelous) fantasists are attracted to the anti HS2 ‘campaign’. Meet Tim (Chantler) of Milton Keynes who regularly bombards HS2 Ltd’s Facebook page with made-up nonsense like this. He’s posted this from [redacted], no doubt one of a number of accounts he uses to abuse people from.
Nothing libellous there Paul, just fact. It’s spelled with 2 L’s by the way. And I’m not ashamed of standing up for taxpayers, who’s money is being wasted by the hundreds of billions on HS2, when the country desperately needs investment elsewhere, on useful projects. That money could make the UK pretty much energy self-sufficient for example. Much better than a useless vanity project.
I find it very telling that you never come up with any valid justification for the excessive cost… Still, they don’t have to pay you any more!.. And I know you won’t post this 😉
HS2 has destroyed so much of our countryside and wildlife, it is unbelievable that it ever got the go-ahead. The thought of the damage caused, above all the killing of ancient forests and replacing with brand new ones, makes me weep:(
I’m afraid this is nothing more than fact-free nonsense. Not a single ‘ancient forest’ has been “killed” by HS2, although a few have lost some areas. It’s also a mad take from a conservation point of view as it’s a fundamental misunderstanding what the definition of ancient woodland actually is (it’s an area that’s been woodland for over 400 years, even if all the ‘ancient’ trees were felled long ago. This is the problem with many of those who call themselves ‘conservationists’. They know little or nothing factual about the environment. Don’t have the faintest idea why we’re building HS2 in the first place, and fall for the slightest emotive ad scaremongering nonsense peddled by some hypocritical charities who cynically use such tactics to drum up supporters – and facts be damned.
There’s a simple truth.
Without HS2 we won’t have the rail capacity for the future to get people & freight off roads and cut transport CO2 emissions (our biggest source of such emissions) to tackle GLOBAL Climate Change. Stopping #HS2 isn’t ‘green’, it’s exactly the opposite. You’re actually doing the fossil fuel lobby’s job for it. This is people who literally can’t see the bigger picture. They can’t see the woods for the trees.