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Day of Action - Campers' verdict

19:13, 09 August 2008

Protesters succeeded in breaching the perimeter fence and inner 10,000 volt electric fence to enter the power station site despite the best efforts of 26 police forces with more than 1,500 police.

The day started early with a flotilla of boats – the Blue group - sailing towards Kingsnorth in the sun.

More than 20 crafts made their way up the Medway to converge on the coal loading jetty. Three people occupied the ledge above the power station's water inlet tunnel while a banner proclaiming 'CO2AL: Starter Gun for Climate Chaos' was hung from Darnet Fort [ED - we're convinced it was Hoo] on an island in the Medway directly opposite the power station.

Kent Police have been claiming that they had to rescue rafters from the Medway, but the participants have stated that the safety precautions they had taken were entirely sufficient and at no point were they in any danger. The safety boat was confiscated.

Meanwhile, around 1,000 people from the Orange group headed from the Camp directly to the main gates at Kingsnorth, led by a colourful carnival dragon made by children during the camp.

At the gates the Camp's Christian Cafe crew held a service giving the power station its last rites. The group blocked the main entrance even after a police helicopter circling above had demanded the marchers disperse.

The few hundred strong Green group made it to the perimeter fence of the power station. Some used a section of fencing to make a ladder to breach both the outer and the inner electric fence. Others climbed a nearby pylon to hang a banner reading 'Shut Down Kingsnorth.'

Campers have been signing pledges to return to Kingsnorth if Minister for Business John Hutton gives E.ON the go-ahead to build the first coal-fired power station in the UK for 30 years. They promise to take action against E.ON and other companies until they abandon all such plans.

Elsewhere in the country people are currently down in tunnels resisting eviction of a protest camp on the site of a proposed open-cast coal mine in Derbyshire.

It's been a great today, but a real victory for us will be when we have conclusively scuppered E.ON's coal-fuelled mania. If Hutton gives the green light to this power plant, E.ON can expect to be seeing a lot more of us in the future.

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