Narangba protest camp fights eviction threat

BY
BILL MASON

BRISBANE — The Queensland Labor government's department of state
development has given formal notice to protesters camped outside the site
of the Narangba nuclear irradiation plant, now under construction, that
they will be evicted by police on February 10.

An application by the department for eviction will be heard in the Supreme
Court on February 5. The department originally ordered the protesters to
leave the camp — which is opposite the Steritech-owned facility, 50 kilometres
north of Brisbane — by January 20, but police have not acted on the order.

“We are calling on people to come to the camp in support of the campaign
to stop the facility”, protest spokesperson Anna Barnes said on January
23. “The government has failed to respond to community concerns about the
cracks in the radiation chamber concrete discovered during the January
6 action [when demonstrators were able to enter the site and investigate
the state of the building work]. Video evidence has been given to government
officials, but there has still been no response”, she said.

Camp residents have dug holes and are prepared to lock themselves inside
to defend the protest against any police attack.

The Stop Food Irradiation Alliance meets every Wednesday, 7pm, at the
Grass Roots Centre, 192 Boundary Street, West End. Visit <http://www.foodirradiationinfo.org>.

From Green Left Weekly, January 29, 2003.

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From GLW issue 523