Tuesday 17 August 2010
South Wales Police can now confirm that the Climate Camp protest that was established on farmland between Glyn Neath and Seven Sisters at around 5pm on Friday night (13 August 2010) has been concluded and officers have been stood down and returned to normal duties.
Superintendent Steve Furnham of South Wales Police said,
“Due to the land being a Cadw protected site and at the request of the landowner, officers carried out their duties to inform the campers to vacate the site and to advise them that if they refused, they risk being arrested for aggravated trespass.
“Even though there were only 30 people that managed to set up camp in the end, officers prevented more people from setting up and fortunately didn’t need to use the mounted officers and Support Officers on standby.
Supt Furnham added,
“Some campaigners may think we had a lot of resources on standby however the public can be reassured that this was absolutely necessary to plan for every eventuality following a lack of communication from the camp organisers regarding their intentions.
“South Wales Police will always remain impartial during events such as this by allowing a peaceful protest to go ahead whilst ensuring the safety of the protesters, officers and the general public. In addition to this, officers have a duty to ensure local residents, businesses and landowners are able to go about their day-to-day activity without disruption.
"We set out to police this event, in a manner which reflected the needs of the protestors to lawfully protest, set against the rights of Cadw, the landowner, businesses and the local community to go about their normal daily business. We are pleased that we achieved this aim and were able to avoid scenes in trend at other protests in the UK.”