Sheffield Feature Archive

The Department of Transport have announced early its intention to widen the M1 from Leicester to Leeds (junctions 21–42) to four lanes in both directions and opposition to the plans has started to emerge. There is also widening planned for junctions 6A–13 (M25 - Luton). The plans that have been published are fragmented and it is difficult to get the full overall picture of the road building plans, its timeline and key milestones, but what is clear so far is:

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The 28th August saw the Government's plans come into being that allows for the forced deportation of Iraqi Kurds to Iraq, based on the claim that it is now safe for return.

Following a meeting of local Kurdish and Yemeni communities, protests against this policy of forced deportations were organised in Sheffield by the Campaign Against Detention and Deportation of Iraqis.

It was agreed at the meeting to hold demonstrations every Saturday at 2pm in the Peace Gardens. Over 100 people turned out for the first demonstration on August 27th.

The Sheffield No Borders group is hosting a film night and benefit gig on Friday 9th September. A film about the European joint efforts to create a system of detention centres and the resistance against it will be shown, along with clips from no border actions in Scotland at the G8 summit this summer. Funds raised will go to support the Magical Mystery Tour action which seeks to highlight to people in Sheffield the government agencies and private companies involved with (and profiteering from) asylum seekers and migrants, and their subsequent detention and deportation.

Links: Sheffield No Borders Group | Make Borders History campaign | No Border Network | European Network Against Detention Centres

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After Birmingham, Notts Indymedia is now IMC UK's new baby. With the website live, there's nothing stopping the new and enthusiastic collective, itching to get the project going. For years it was felt that Nottinghamshire could really do with a open, independent and community-orientated media space. Well, now it has finally arrived.

Notts Indymedia produced a short film about the G8 Justice Ministers meeting in Sheffield, back in July. It can be downloaded here. There are plans to open a media centre in the city and various other film projects are in the pipeline.

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"Our protest site must and will continue to exist in order to protect our beautiful hillside" Nine Ladies Protest Site

Last week the High Court gave its verdict regarding the classification of the quarries at Lees Cross and Endcliffe in the Derbyshire Peaks. The quarries are now (or still) officially dormant. However according to the Nine Ladies protest site this does not mean that victory in the fight to protect the woodland and the stone circle has been secured.

Under the ruling the quarries cannot reopen until the peak park have agreed a set of working conditions for them. Stancliffe Stone still have the permission to quarry from 1952, and the peak park still have the power to revoke the permission, or to impose such restrictions that the re opening of the quarries would be financially unviable. So until there is no possibility that Stancliffe can quarry the protest appears set to continue.

Article from the 9 Ladies Collective — nine ladies no real victory.

Previous stories: Marshalls, Hands off 9 Ladies! | Nine Ladies Possession Court Order Obtained | Nine Ladies Under Threat

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While people are busy being hooked on watching yet another Big Brother
series on TV the fiction rapidly moves towards reality. The UK already
has more CCTV cameras than any other country in the world. Your emails
can be read and the history of your websurfing analysed without a court
order by six government agencies and the Police. Your land line can be
tapped. Your mobile phone acts as a tracking device and vehicles can be
tracked across the country through number plate recognition software.
The Police now have the power to access your NHS records without having
to establish that a criminal act has taken place. The measures taken by
the UK government in the name of the "war on terror" have severly
damaged civil liberties and human rights.

The slide towards a Big Brother state accelerates further this week.
The G8 Justice and Interior Ministers meeting in Sheffield
discussed avenues for advancing the the so-called "war on terror",
national security and combating international crime and illegal
immigration, all of which are likely to have further negative impacts
on civil liberties. For the UK goverment part of this strategy is to
introduce a national identity scheme making it a legal requirement for
its citizens to carry ID cards.

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The third day of the Ministerial G8 meeting in Sheffield started with a banner drop and what was hopefully a rude awakening for the delgates at the Marriott Hotel in Nether Edge from a Rebel Alliance of RoRS and a squad from the Clown Army.

During the day the Counter Conference was running at the convergence centre and there was a Guantanamo Bay protest action in the City Centre. The day ended with a Insurgents' Party with the Trollyd and Riddimition sound systems and the 2012 Show.

Reports: 1 Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

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An eventful second day to the G8 Ministerial meeting in Sheffield.

Thursday's main events included:

An all-day Counter Conference at the convergence space, which also hosts the Indymedia Centre, court appearances for people arrested on Wednesday, a protest outside the Cathedral, the Make Poverty History Rice Meal, with an attendant sit-down protest and an ensuing penning in of protestors in and around West Street. More details are in the "Read more..." section of the article and from the links below.

Photos & reports: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18

Videos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |

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So the G8 Justice and Interior Ministers came to a three-day meeting at Nether Edge's Marriott Hotel.

Their unwelcome started early with a banner drop near Park Square roundabout and the revelation that the police consider the whole shennanigans as "Operation Octagon". The Convergence Space, with Indymedia Centre kicked off with an "Insurgent's Breakfast", mass leafleting took place in the city centre and Meadowhall and an late afternoon Critical Mass.

Focus then moved to an assembly of people on Devonshire Green protesting for the right to protest, the assembled set off into town to be meet the Critical Mass. After having their way blocked by police at Barker's Pool and at the entrance of Surrey Street by the Town Hall they congregated for a while. A number-limited Stop the War protest took place outside the Lyceum. Unfortunately the folks who walked down Fargate and tried to turn onto Arundel Gate had their way blocked by cops and eventually riot cops. There were two arrests around this time.

More details are in the "Read more..." section of the article and from the links below.

Reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Video: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |

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In advance of the G8 Justice and Interior Ministers arriving for their summit in Sheffield, protests against their presence started with a Critical Mass at 8:30am (report and video). People started to gather on Devonshire Green at 10:30am for the demonstration called by the Sheffield Stop the War Coalition. Several hundred people then marched through the centre of town on the way to Peace in the Park at the General Cemetery. Lots of information on the G8 was distributed to shoppers in town.

With the fine weather holding out, the 3rd annual Peace in the Park festival was packed. This year it was a benefit for Sheffield Archer Project, a charity providing support for the homeless, and the Intermediate Technology Development Group, an international charity working on practical ways to end poverty for people in need all over the world. Stalls included No Sweat, No2ID and others. Along with an open mic tent and a bands stage there were also tunes from Riddemtion.

The finale of the evening was a performance by the Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination which included an appearance from the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army . A gig from the 2012 show was arranged at the last minute at The Cricketers and this made a nice end of the day for the few who made it.

Further actions against the G8 have been planned for the next few days, expect a heavy police presence...

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

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The Justice and Home Affairs ministers from the G8 countries are meeting in Sheffield from Wednesday 15th until Friday 17 June. The issues to be discussed at the Sheffield ministerial meeting include counter-terrorism, migration, law enforcement, the expanded use of DNA and legal affairs. People in Sheffield have co-ordinated a number of actions and events against the G8. Full details of these events and a timeline can be found on the Sheffield Against G8 website.

Sheffield Indymedia G8 coverage | Sheffield Against the G8 | Peace in the Park | Sheffield Stop The War Coalition

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Proposals are being put before the council for a massive enlargement of the Parkwood Landfill site, allowing a substantial increase in capacity from just 266,000 tonnes a year to a staggering 1 million tonnes. The Parkwood Landfill site is on the edge of Shirecliffe and overlooks many areas including Hillsborough, Upperthorpe and Walkley. Local residents are fighting these proposals and demanding a public consultation. However, their on going investigation into the proposals is raising more questions than answers. Residents are beginning to see a possible link emerging between the new massive incinerator in Sheffield, which is nearing completion, and the proposals for the enlargement of the Parkwood Landfill Site. If under these proposals the Parkwood landfill site was to have its suspended special waste licence reinstated, the expansion of the landfill site would enable the ash from the new Bernard Roads incinerator to be dumped there.

Article | Photos

Planning application info: September 2005

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The biggest police operation [ 1 | 2 ] since the 1984-85 miners' strike was mounted in Derby to protect a G8 Environment Ministers Meeting between 15 and 19 March 2005. This involved orders under Section 13 of the Public Order Act to ban the holding of "public processions through the City of Derby" (funerals were exempted) for five days and then under Section 14 a protest was allowed on the 17 March which involved a "designated protest site of Derby Market Place", a time limit and a maximum number of 3,000 protestors.

Events on M17 started with a Critical Mass bicycle protest in the morning with around 40 people taking part, police arrested twelve cyclists, who were released on bail that night, however their bicycles have been kept "as evidence".

Around 100 protestors then gathered in the only place they were alowed to — the Market Place — and spent the afternoon hanging around, listening to some samba, eating snacks from Veggies and watching Bush and Blair get pied. The point of the protest was explained by a representative of Friends of the Earth, "We're trying to take this opportunity with the G8 Environment and Development Ministers meeting just outside Derby to send a direct message to those ministers, particularly about the rhetoric that's being used in terms of climate change, and actually trying to encourage them to take action rather than just talk about the issue — and also to stop pumping our tax-payers' money into new oil developments and actually look at real solutions to climate change."

The G8 Justice and Home Affairs ministers are due in Sheffield between 15 to 17 June 2005 and Sheffield Dissent has a g8-sheffield email list to discuss what protests might be organised — now we have an idea of what to expect...

Photos: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

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One legacy that the former home secretary has left the city is a meeting of the G8 Justice and Home Affairs ministers on the 15th to 17th June 2005, to be held somewhere in Sheffield. There is also a G8 Environment and Development Ministers Meeting in Derbyshire on 17-18th March, see M17 Derby - Protest the G8 for details of the critical mass and street party that is planned.

The G8 are the group at the heart of the corporate Globalization and the key exponents of a neoliberal economic agenda. This is an agenda which essentially promotes and protects free trade in all its forms. All aspects of life, from the production and exchange of essential goods and services, through to our health care and education, are to be determined by the forces of the "free market", maximising profit at any human or environmental cost. The G8 are responsible for co-coordinating a neo-liberal assault on our livelihoods, public services, jobs, wages and environment. In addition, the powerful influence of the G8 over international institutions such as the World Trade Orgainsation and the International Monetary Fund ensures that their interests dominate.

In an ever increasing climate of harsh criticism and suspicion over their agenda, the G8 have made promises on seeking solutions to the world's problems, but in reality have failed to deliver in making any progressive changes. Examples of this are their inability to cancel debts owed by the world's most poorest nations, or implement the Kyoto agreement to reduce greenhouse omissions that are killing our planet.

Over 2005, the UK holds the Presidency of the G8, and over this year will be hosting a series of ministerial meetings around the UK, culminating in the heads of state summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, on 6-8th July Ministers from the G8 countries will gather to discuss a range of issues from security, trade, relations with developing countries, energy and the environment. Even domestic issues, such as employment will be discussed. The meeting to be held in Derbyshire in March is on the enviroment and development, where as the one in Sheffield will be on justice and home affairs issues, including including counter-terrorism, migration, law enforcement, legal affairs and hi-tech crime.

Sheffield City Council appear to be welcoming the summit to Sheffield. Council Leader Jan Wilson has said that "Hosting the G8 JHA summit will put Sheffield firmly on the map..." and The Star has reported that "A huge armed police operation is expected to seal Sheffield city centre for the meeting to prevent a terror attack".

Over the past several years G8 Summits have been a focus for protests and counter summits. Following the Peoples Global Action call for a united global day of action in 1998, the Summit protests have, however, grown and strengthened, forcing the G8 Summits to more inaccesible locations with ever increasing security costs. The venue for the Ministerial meetings in Sheffield and the security implications that will follow are not yet known.

Sheffield Dissent | Resist the G8 - Global Call Out | Dissent Network | G8 Alternatives | Make Poverty History | Faslane G8 Action | G8 Feminist Action | Queer G8 | Jubilee G8 Bike rides | G8 Cycle Caravan | Resist G8 | Reshape G8 | French mobilisation | German mobilisation | IMC Scotland | UK IMC G8 Topic | Sheffield G8 Topic

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Let the People Decide! (Says planning minister...)

People Power! Suddenly, it seems, it's all the rage. 'Let the People Decide!' declares a press release from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), which lauds the democratic credentials of the recent Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act.

And here's the ODPM again: “Community involvement in planning should not be a reactive, tick-box, process - it should enable the local community to say what sort of place they want to live in at a stage when this can make a difference.” (1)

Not only that, but the Home Office seems bent on turning us all into 'Active Citizens' who will “define the problems they face, and tackle them in partnership with public bodies.” This vision is, we're told, “at the heart of the Home Office's vision of life in our 21st century communities.” (2)

At the heart of it, huh?

Enter the Burngreave and Fir Vale 'Masterplan': a radical plan to renew Burngreave's housing.

Participation | 'Not all neighbourhoods can be preserved...' | Poor council | Get participating!

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Last year's Sharrow Lantern Carnival was a huge success with hundreds of people taking to the streets of Sharrow with some truly amazing lanterns. These are constructed from willow, tissue paper, masking tape, and glue and made by both young and old people alike. The simple construction method, means that with imagination you can build anything you want.

The carnival is happening again this year on Sunday, April 3rd and there is lots of chance to get involved in making lanterns with a series of workshops happening before the event. These are open to anyone (you don't have to live in Sharrow) to build lanterns of all shapes and sizes. There will also be the chance to make costumes and instruments for a junk band. Refreshments will be available at each workshop as well as a crèche.

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Join the televised rally at 6pm on the 14th Feb at The National Centre For Popular Music, when Hallam will be re-opening the centre as a students union. The NCPM was built from lottery funding it is considered by some that its true ownership is that of the people.

The National Centre for Popular Music (NCPM) was built over five years ago as a visitor attraction centre for Sheffield using over £18 million of public money. The original project failed for various reasons and for a number of years this iconic building has been abandoned largely empty and unused at the heart of Sheffield's Cultural Industries Quarter — an area in which Sheffield's creative and digital industries are concentrated.

Action update: 1

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The Silver Squat, which was located in an old silversmiths building near Sheffield train station, was finally evicted on Monday 24th January. The court case for the eviction took place the previous week. To mark the ending of the squat, a farewell gig was hosted there the night before. By One O'clock on the Monday the gates were open and the baliffs were in. It is not clear what the land will be used for, but there is a high probability that it will be redeveloped in to more 'lifestyle' flats.

Silver Squat Eviction Imminent | Photos from the Silver Squat

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As home secretary, Blunkett's abuses of human rights and civil liberties have been staggering. He has introduced internment without trial for suspected foreign terrorists is introducing military camps for children, and barely a day would go by without him dreaming up another crackpot neo-fascist scheme to attack civil liberties, criminalize working-class communities, and put more and more people behind bars.

Update: The first Shed no tears for Blunkett article generated a long thread of comments and there is now also a follow up article, 4 Homes Blunkett.

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Kelly, one of two activists who visited Sheffield in April to talk about Palestine and show a film, has now been imprisoned in Israel for filming.

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After over 14 months spent protecting a village green from illegal destruction protesters in Sherwood forest were evicted on 6th December 2004 after the Police turned up without warning at 8am.

They had been protesting against the unnecessary destruction of an area of woodland and grassland, which is recognised for its conservation importance; the developers (Bellway Homes) and the Mansfield District Council are seeking to build an unnecessary, and ill-placed, road junction across the Green.

The trees were evicted quite fast [photos], and the tunnels were also evicted by the end of the day.

No notice was given that the evictions were to take place and the Under-Sheriff of Nottingham (whose ultimately in charge of evictions in the area) told the protesters only last week, that there would not be an eviction while legal cases were still outstanding.

For background info: www.sherwoodgreen.net
Previous stories on Sherwood camp with photos: 1 | 2 | 3

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