Statement of ???? about the events at Gotan Camp, Swilley's Copse, off the Wantage Road, Newbury, Berkshire on 30 January 1996

I woke up this morning to the sound of women shouting. There were hundreds of security guards in a circle around the wood that I live in (Swilley's Copse). One team of men used a long pole with a knife on the end to cut through walkways, one tree climber was shinning up trees to cut through walkways as well (they worked together to minimise the number of trees that we could defend). All this time I was up in the big beech tree with the communal tree house in.

At some point they took down the 3 tents on the ground and shifted them outside the circle of guards. Some stuff was shifted off site while some stuff was burnt. I saw pallets, blue polyprop rope and tarpaulins burnt. A lot of the treehouses (either finished or under construction) were dismantled similarly. Trees were felled that were very near trees with protesters in, several actually hitting the trees that were occupied.

In particular the possessions of "Noddy" were thrown out of her treehouse and landed on a branch lower down (sleeping bag).

 

Signed.............................................

 

Dated..............................................