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Nottinghamshire power station protest - the activists' story

The protesters arrested for allegedly planning to target a Nottinghamshire power station have been advised by their lawyers not to talk about the details of the action. However, one man who has talked to several activists tells us his story of yesterday's events

There were people from every walk of life and every part of Britain – 18-year-olds, pensioners, teachers, engineers, you name them. Everyone made their way to Sneinton [an independent school in Nottingham]. The first sign of anything going wrong was at 12.20 when 200 or more officers bashed down the doors of the school.

It seemed to be a pretty sophisticated attempt by the police to neuter the whole climate movement. They must have known about [the gathering] a long time before. They even had colour-coded maps of the school. It was a huge operation. They were very pleased with themselves, talking about promotions and how it had been 'intelligence-led'. There were forward intelligence teams there and a lot of men in suits, like something out of TV show Life on Mars.

Everyone was lined up and handcuffed. There were long queueues of people waiting to be processed by the police. They were left waiting outside in the cold. But everyone was in high spirits. People sang Vera Lynn's White Cliffs of Dover. They stood in a line in handcuffs waiting to be arrested and sung their lungs out.

One arresting officer was quite out of order and asked people if they were proud of being terrorists. That's disappointing. You would hope for a bit better from the police, especially after the events at the G20.

No one was charged. Some people were bailed not to approach or disrupt the activities of any power station anywhere in the UK. They are not allowed to even wave a banner at one. Others were given no bail conditions at all.

After everyone was processed, the police just chucked everyone into the streets of Nottingham. That was pretty dangerous for some of the women at that time of night. The police were asked to give people a tenner to catch a bus or a cab, but they refused, saying they had kept the money as 'evidence'.

Two things are pretty clear: first, this climate movement is getting really big. Young people are now piling in realising that climate change is not an abstract issue but a problem that is going to manifest itself in our own lifetimes.

Second, this was a pre-emtive strike against the whole movement. The idea is to head people off at the pass. But it won't work.

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