Mark 01-jul-99
We arrived in a group of six vehicles
outside Stonehenge on the afternoon of Sunday June 20th. on our way to
Cholderton woods, or any nearer park up, for the summer solstice which we wished
to celebrate on the morning of June 22nd. As we slowly approached the stones
from the north along the A360 I saw a lot of police activity by the roadside and
a group of vehicles and tents camped on the verge of Larkhill Lane. As I pulled
my vehicle into the lane a line of police officers obstructed our passage. One
approached me and said we were not allowed to enter the lane. I asked to see a
copy of the road closure order but he refused and threatened to arrest us for
obstruction if we did not move off.
Though suspecting the closure was illegal,
we drove a few yards further down the road and no attempt was made to stop us
pulling into the lower Stonehenge car park where several groups of people and
vehicles had gathered. Eventually an order was posted at the top of Larkhill
Lane but that was at 4 p.m., two hours after we'd arrived and two hours before
the time stated on the order. A senior officer said that he might allow us to
drive down the lane in the next two hours but as they had placed cones along
both sides we would not be allowed to stop. We were asked and then ordered to
leave the car park but no reasonable reason was given. We considered our
presence in the car park a civil matter between us and English Heritage. Slowly
police numbers built up and about thirty bouncers on steroids ("Throw us a
hippie!") turned up claiming to be agents for National Heritage (odd
company for such an organisation to keep, apparently they were supplied by Chub
Security)
At this point the police humorously informed us that they were only there to protect us. The A360 past the stones was closed to vehicles with a road block at each end.
We were continually videoed by the police and while obstructing a camera I was arrested for assault and taken in a police van to Salisbury. When the arresting officer (police-cameraman) claimed, falsely, that I had head butted him on the helmet I asked to see a doctor to check for injuries. The desk sergeant sent me back uncharged on condition I signed that I did not want to see a doctor or solicitor. Thanx for the lift back, by the way!
Meanwhile the police began drilling in large battle squads before us, we still refused to move. We were told we could park on a verge inside the northern roadblock but it was too steep for our trailers, we would not agree to move off before 8.30 a.m. the following morning, we did not want to be trapped between the road blocks and we did not trust them. At about 9 p.m. we were handed a "Public order notice" (unfilled in) and told that all our vehicles would be impounded and we would be arrested if we did not leave within ten minutes. As we left for Cholderton woods the car park was packed with police personnel and hardware.
After supper and an early night, in the morning we heard, on Radio Wiltshire, about the battle during the night. How a thousand hippies were driven back by police with dogs and horses but later how people were still standing on the stones. By the time we got in a van and to the stones it was all back to normal. A few dozen people gathered on verges played down stories of the "battle".
As darkness fell six of us returned to the
stones to find the A360 blocked again by large numbers of police. We approached
the northern barricade, put on rubber masks and told them they were surrounded,
as of course they were. As we sat in the road a stream of white vans sped past
us towards what was once again a secure police compound, we definitely had them
worried! (we should have tried to walk around the barricade to see if the road
was only closed to vehicles, but we didn't think of that until later, damn)Throughout our contact with the authorities they initially told us of their new friendly policing policy but as usual quickly turned to physical force if they found their demands refused (irrespective of the legal position) At this solstice we were privileged once again to see the power structure of society revealed to us. They offered us nothing apart from letting us approach the outer fence on foot, which they don't appear to easily be able to legally stop at this time. It has been suggested that the authorities engineered the confrontation to justify bringing in stronger public order powers following the earlier ruling on the illegality of the exclusion zone. According to Wiltshire Radio the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, appeared to support such a move when suggested by Wiltshire M.P. Robert Key, in the House of Commons within 24 hours of these events.
