Morning, everyone.
Not going to be able to see a lot because it’s a bit dark,
but it’s happening.
The eviction of Jones’ Hill Wood is underway.
Absolutely confirmed the NET team [National Eviction Team]
are encroaching on the woods as we speak.
They’re in!
There’s lights coming through!
We’ve got people looking out in place.
We’ve got people up in treehouses.
I’m f***ing scared.
There is a brave woman down there locked into a device in the ground
in order to stop this eviction happening.
Please stop!
Leave her alone!
You’re going to break my finger!
HS2 are going to come and forcefully remove us
from this woodland.
High Court enforcment, ladies and gents.
You are trespassing.
We’re going to have to ask you to leave.
This is HS2 land.
They’re going to come and forcefully remove the animals and the trees,
and they’re going to destroy this incredible habitat.
Now they want to commit ecocide on the woods.
There’s no need for that, mate.
I’m a High Court enforcement officer. Move back into the woods.
What we need now is you.
[On the Line: Saving Britain’s Woodland]
[HS2 is a high-speed railway line in early construction]
[that will link London to the north of England.]
This incredible project,
linking Birmingham, over eight miles away there,
to London, just 38 minutes.
[People have been protesting the £100 billion project]
[that is due to destroy or damage hundreds of UK wildlife sites]
[and ancient woodland.]
[However, a controversial new law will give police more power]
[to terminate peaceful protests]
[and make trespassing a criminal offense.]
I’ve been engaged in the HS2 campaign for about two years,
and I was introduced to this place here, which is Jones’ Hill Woods.
There’s a lot of stories about this place,
including that Roald Dahl was inspired
to write
And it’s a beautiful little ecosystem,
and they’re building a massive viaduct
right through the Wendover Valley,
and this is step one of the viaduct.
Jones’ Hill Wood is my home at the moment,
but there’s a huge possibility we’re going to lose this.
I'm not here for a violent confrontation.
I’m here for a confrontation
about the damage that’s been done to the environment.
We’ve been doing dawn and dusk surveys
so that we can find out where roosts are.
In planning, you have to have a survey for bats.
But with HS2,
it seems like they don’t have to do any of that.
Ooh, flew right at me!
See how close that was.
I think it’s really important that people do what they can.
It’s not just about saving the trees or stopping the train.
It’s about locally, nationally, and globally
creating a better society
and making a choice about what society you want to live in.
I’m an electorate councilor over in West Berkshire.
I am prepared to be arrested.
I'm prepared to go to prison to save this incredible piece of woodland,
one of over 100 that are under threat.
HS2 is not going to be carbon neutral for 100 plus years.
The environmental impact
is not going to be remedied with planting a few saplings.
Well, I can remember when we first came here and I thought,
“How can HS2 demolish this?”
And I’ve got grandchildren, and I just keep thinking,
“What’s going to be left for them when they grow up
if I don’t step up to the mark
and do something to try and save it now?”
Did I ever think I’d be doing this,
little old lady with a little old dog in retirement? No.
It comes a time when ordinary people have to make a stand.
There is a possibility that next week they will vote in that
trespass becomes a criminal act in this country.
And that means, the day after that,
we could all be arrested just for being on this land.
Come on, secure the fence.
If you’d just like to move forward, please.
Keep moving forward, please.
I can’t get over there because I’ve got a new hip.
And to think they’re here to facilitate
the destruction of this lovely woodland.
They say they can try and recreate this ancient woodland,
something they will never do.
Do you understand that if you carry on,
you could get arrested for trespassing?
I’m not trespassing. You are the ones who are trespassing.
We’re not. We are here with the landowner’s permission.
You are not here--
Sorry, you are not here with the landowner’s permission.
I’m afraid we are.
You’re trespassing.
Well, I’m being told otherwise, but I’m not going to have--
I don’t care.
You’re not stopping anybody who wants to walk down there.
The instructions we’ve been given is that it is owned by HS2.
No, it isn’t! No, it isn’t!
From that corner, directly to the road,
they took possession.
Legally, it’s still ours. It’s on our deeds.
We’ve still got ownership
because we haven’t received a penny, like nobody else along here.
Well, you go down there. They can’t stop you going down there.
I’m going down to see the kids, OK?
You go out in the field. That’s our land.
That’s nothing to do with HS2.
She’s an innocent, loving person who’s supporting the cause.
I just find Boris Johnson so hypocritical when he has said,
“We are going to protect 30 percent of the British countryside.”
He has given HS2 permission
to take out vast swathes of our ancient woodlands,
of our communities and add to climate breakdown.
He should have said,
“30 percent of the currently protected area will be protected.”
In other words, only eight percent of the UK.
This land is protected, and they are cutting it down,
so that protection means nothing.
OK, everybody, this is...
probably coming to the end of my occupation of this treehouse.
It’s been beautiful.
Over my shoulder here is a beautiful Green Party councilor
who has been living in this tree for the last four or so months,
doing his job,
servicing his ward.
He is one of the most passionate, incredible, caring men
that I have met for a long time, and I mean this, inspirational.
And Jones’ Hill Wood and this campaign thank you.
We are in the squirrel tree. These gentlemen are approaching.
They are part of a police climbing team.
They’re threatening me with arrest for I’m not sure what at the moment.
I haven’t committed any crimes. I haven’t broken my bail conditions.
It’s not a case of not telling you, Ross.
We're just finding out what it is.
As an independent police officer, you’d think that you would want
the information about why you’re going to arrest me?
We just want to confirm your identity first.
They came up to the treehouse, and they pointed at me,
and they said, “We’re here to arrest you.”
I was very clearly offered a choice by the policeman.
I either complied to their orders and I left that treehouse
or they were going to come into that treehouse in force.
But if I complied, they were going to back off.
So I made a very, very hard choice
to step into their cherrypicker, to leave the woods.
And it was not the way that I imagined leaving the woods.
Part of your job
is to investigate crimes to the best of your ability, is it not?
It is, Ross.
So can you please go and investigate this crime
to the best of your ability
and just stop following orders blindly
because you are about to take away my freedom
and liberty under false pretense?
I will get some more information,
but ultimately, it’s not going to change what happens next.
There were two very targeted arrests.
Me and Steve were targeted, and the police used that
as an excuse to take me out of a legitimate protest situation.
We had spent 36 hours talking to national media,
talking to international media.
They didn’t want the world to see what was happening on the ground,
and it was brutal on the ground.
It just proves to me that’s where the power is.
When you tell the story about the work we’ve done,
not just the conflict with the NET,
because it’s not about the fight,
it’s about the environment,
it’s about the rights,
it’s about the degradation of democracy that we’ve talked about.
And when people connect with that,
it’s dangerous to the corporations,
it’s dangerous to the government,
and it’s dangerous to the police, to be honest.
-The land has been purchased by HS2. -
-Therefore, you are not--
-We’ve been lied to by the police. -I’m not having any questions.
There’s no need for that, mate.
I’m a High Court enforcement officer. Move back into the woods.
-Think about what you’re a part of.
-Think about what you’re a part of. -Go back in. Go back in.
I can see it in your eyes right now; some of you are struggling with this.
What has this ever given you that’s positive?
Do you want to be doing this?
Beating up young, innocent people
so someone above you and profit off of stealing land,
demolishing people’s homes,
is that really what you want to be doing?
Because I don't want to be here.
Just got back in the wood since my arrest on Friday
and court on Saturday in Oxford, when my charges were dropped.
I’ve been really, really fidgety all weekend, wanting to get back.
I’m in absolute awe of the guys who’ve been there six days.
You’re on the line. You’re now trespassing on HS2 land.
I’m really excited to say I’m up in the Bean Can.
A bit tough getting up, but I’m really pleased to be here.
Take care, everybody.
Love and rage.
Change is coming
We are few, but we are strong
Time’s been wasted and we haven’t got too long
Mother’s dying, we can feel it in our bones
So we’re rebelling on a system that is wrong
I’m compelled today and every day
to take direct action against the government and their agents
and the bloated multinational corporations.
They are always putting profit before people and planet.
We’re looking out, and you just see lines of riot police.
I was quite apprehensive about what was going to happen.
Oi, get that guy away!
You’re kicking a woman in the face.
Are you f***ing kidding me?
I saw your foot hovering, alright?
You’ve got to untie these ropes.
-I’ve always told you, haven’t I?
None of us are going to put anybody in danger.
The only person up there who’s really responsible for your safety is you.
They just started getting people’s lines
and dragging them towards them so they could go off into the crane.
Just a very sad day.
Pull! Pull!
Oi, I wanted that!
You f***ing b******s!
This officer told me that he’s very violent
and would punch me until I was knocked out
so he could take me down.
Those were his exact words.
We love you, Satchel!
Love you, from everybody!
Explain the aggravated trespass power to me.
You have to explain it to me.
You can’t just arrest people
without explaining to them why you’re detaining them.
You can’t take someone’s freedom away
without telling them why you’re taking their freedom away.
Our homes have been taken from us.
The land that was ours
and we were looking after, living with,
has been taken over by an outside force.
I think the woodlands will only be saved
if we stop the whole project.
That day in the cells,
I was crying and crying and crying,
and it got it out of my system, basically.
So I thought, well...
one way that we can fight them is through the ecology
and the laws that are set up in this country
that are supposed to protect it.
This is the sound of barbastelle.
We found the barbastelle bat,
which was amazing because it was just in the nick of time.
This was two nights before the eviction on the 1st October.
If we hadn’t had that,
the woods would have gone by now.
[Critically endangered barbastelle bats were found at Jones’ Hill Wood,]
[giving the area protected status under UK law.]
If we hadn’t done that background work in the ecology,
if we hadn’t taken that fervor to actually doing surveys,
to actually investigating the wildlife law,
and logging that, putting that back in against HS2,
we would have lost this woodland right now.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t until it got critical, until it got sexy,
until the activists put themselves on the line,
until the activists were getting traumatized, brutalized,
beaten, and actually arrested and criminalized.
The rest of the world didn’t listen quite hard enough,
and that's a sad thing.
There’s a Heras fence with men dressed in orange,
patrolling up and down, who are really unaware of their part
in the destruction of what they’re doing.
And what I realized is actually those people on that side of the fence
are just as affected by this as I am.
They’re the people that we’re fighting for.
There will be a moment when they come to chop these woods down,
and I think you will see
that connection that we have with this place
actually come back to us and come back to life.
I’m not going to stand by and let them
cut every f***ing tree down here without doing anything.
Absolutely not.
[The activists launched legal proceedings,]
[challenging the felling license]
[granted by the government body Natural England]
[due to the evidence of barbastelle bats.]
[The High Court ordered construction to be halted]
[for the case to be considered.]
[This has since been overturned in favor of HS2 and Natural England,]
[allowing felling to continue.]
[When asked for comment, HS2 responded:]
[“All HS2 ecological work is designed to protect wildlife,]
[and at Jones’ Hill Wood, as across the whole HS2 route,]
[we ensure that all works are carried out]
[in accordance with the correct legal requirements.”]