Latest news from Denmark

This is the latest news sent to us by Peter Skeel Hjorth.

"July 28th 2011 Two activists were arrested Thursday morning in Østerild Klitplantage in Thy, Denmark.

One was bitten by a police dog. Activists went through a police bar. Police dogs were sent into the area, and one of the activists had superficial scratches, as the dogs stopped him, a police spokesman said . The activist who was bitten is Amos Stenner, who Tuesday made ​​himself noticed when he sat for hours in a tree to be cut down.

"We were going to build a nest in one of the trees that have not yet been harvested. There was no police bar or warnings. When the police came, we would leave, but I forgot my jacket and phone at the nest, and went back to retrieve it. Suddenly a German shepherd came behind me and bit my arm," Amos Spener from the activists' camp in Østerild told the press.

"The dog bit my arm and my leg. It was very painful", Amos Spener said. He has spoken with his lawyer. And it may well be that this ends with a lawsuit. At hospital Amos Stenner had his wounds cleaned at hospital. He is released, while the other arrested activist was kept for interrogation. Both can expect a fine of 4000 Dkr = 550 Euro."

Peter also sent us a link to these photos by Egon Bennetsen:

The place with the flag at half mast shows the place where the activists had their tents, until the police demanded they moved. The other photos show how it looks after cutting down trees. One photo shows the police who still watch the area.

The police move in on Green activists trying to save forest

This morning we had a message from Peter Skeel Hjorth that at 5.20 o´clock am 50 police officers began to take away the activists
from the blockade, arresting six of them. One activist who crawled up in a tree is still sitting there, but the authorities have started to
cut down the forest. Peter also sent us this link:

http://www.dr.dk/P4/Vest/Nyheder/Thisted/2011/07/26/071319.htm

Here is a link to the same page translated on Google Translate (not speaking Danish, we can't vouch for its accuracy, but it seems to make sense!):

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=da&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dr.dk%2FP4%2FVest%2FNyheder%2FThisted%2F2011%2F07%2F26%2F071319.htm

Here is a short paragraph from the translation:
"Amos Spener sits so far safe from the police. A policeman tried earlier to get him down, but failed at first.

Nature Agency has started to fell the trees around the tree where Amos Spener sit. "

Well, if the translation is correct, you can't help wondering if the translation software has a sense of irony in regard to the second sentence. Perhaps the Danish cartoonist, mentioned on our Facebook page on Sunday, Jens Hage will be inspired to produce another cartoon about wind turbines.

Here is a link to earlier photographs ( by Aleksaner Sønder)
of the protest as well:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalttestcenter/

Photos

Thanks to Egon Bennetsen for allowing us to show this and other photographs (on our Facebook page) of activists at the blockade against the Danish test centre for giant wind turbines.

Well done to all these brave Danish activists!

A quick attempt to translate using Google translate wasn't that successful, but the first words seem to be:

"We are nature's friends"

and that is something all fighters against industrial wind power agree with.

More about protest here, with photos!

http://www.windturbinesyndrome.com/news/2011/finally-civil-disobedience-over-wind-turbines-denmark/


True Green activists!

More here too:
http://www.epaw.org/echoes.php?lang=en&article=n15

See this quote: "“People are thoroughly fed up having their property devalued and their sleep disturbed by big wind turbines 130 and up to 200 meters high” , says the chairperson of a new Danish national association to Jyllandsposten."

Protest in Denmark - support needed

Blockade against Danish test centre for giant wind turbines

Appeal for support from activists in Denmark


Thursday morning, the local Danish police gave up removing the activists who since Friday, 15 July 2011, have prevented the cutting down of forest to make room for the planned national test centre for 250 metres high windmills in Thy, Northern Jutland.


10 police officers turned up to end the blockade but withdrew when it turned out that there were more activists than exspected. They are camping in the forest area where the authorities intend to cut down the forest to create the right wind conditions in the test centre. We shall be back in great numbers, the police said.


The test centre will be situated right between a protected birds area, a so-called Ramsar area, and a Natura 2000 area. The Danish Society for Nature Conservation finds that the law regarding the test centre violates the EU habitat directive and has brought the case before the EU Commission who has requested a detailed statement from the Danish government. Furthermore, a local association has filed a case against the Danish State.


Friday, 15 July, the bird breeding season ended and by midnight the Danish authorities intended to start the cutting down. During the day, the local population protested against the demolition of Denmark's last wild nature.



The activists simply laid down in front of the authorities' machines to prevent the cutting down to start. They are staying in the area in tents day and night.



The ruling of the EU Commission is expected within a couple of weeks. The activists demand that the cutting down is postponed until the ruling of the EU Commission and the verdict of Danish court have been made public. The Danish press is following the case every hour. An open letter from a Danish association to the Minister for the Environment was published today requesting the Minister to stop the work.



”We find it very problematic that you, as the government's representative, wants to force through a very controversial test centre for windmills, as the most basic investigations of the negative impact on the surroundings have not yet been made”, the Association for Improved Environment writes to the minister.



The demonstration in Thy has no central organization but arose spontaneously. A spokesman for the activists appeals for support and assistance from both Europe and the rest of the world. And, preferably, as soon as possible.

Please contact Peter Skeel Hjorth, spokesman of EPAW in Scandinavia and the Baltic States. Email: peter@skeelhjorth.dk Phone: +46 708 166521

Or Aleksander Sønder. Email: aleksander.soender@gmail.com Phone: +45 26160630

(This report was sent to us by Peter Skeel Hjorth)