Protestors demonstrating against Oxford City Council ’s Westgate area expansion plan claimed partial victory over Bonn Square Sunday after successfully halting security guards and police’s second attempt to evict protestors by squaring off the grass area with steel barricades.
The protest began when Gabriel Chamberlain, 34, decided to camp in Bonn Square’s threatened tree on January 4th to protest Westgate Partnership , the £1.5 m Westgate area redevelopment plan that will uproot the sycamore and remove the patch of grass with rock pavement. Since Chamberlain’s encampment, contractors and security guards have surrounded the reportedly 100-year-old tree with security fencing.
About 50 people gathered at Bonn Square for a peaceful protest Saturday afternoon when contractors started surrounding the area to install new barricades around the grass patch. Protesters then in response joined arms and swarmed inside the square chanting and waving flags and placards. With police intervention barriers were removed and without threat of arrest Chamberlain’s supporters were granted permission to remain on site for protest. A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said the fences were removed because contractors ran out of steel barriers.
After thwarting fence additions protest organiser Danny Chivers, 29, seemed hopeful about the prospects putting enough pressure on the council and halting the development project all together.
Protester Brian Melling, 43, felt the partial victory signified the public’s disapproval of the project. “It’s not often you get a partial victory. The council said they have consulted the public but you can see how many people are here and what they think of what they are doing,” commented Melling to the Oxford Mail.
Tree protester Chamberlain expressed his further support for the 50 campaigners while calling down from his tree, “I think what these people have done is great. It’s not just about saving the tree but about saving the planet. This is the last bit of grass people can sit in Oxford and they are going to turn it in to stone. Why don’t they just leave the grass?"
Over the course of the weekend another, who Chamberlain identified as Eddie Beaumont, joined the tree encampment demonstration.
Chamberlain's mother Josephine Knight-Jacobs said, "I think what he is doing is brilliant. I am very proud of him. Too many people don't stand up enough in this country. I don't understand why they have to cut so many trees down."
Westgate Expansion Plan Protestors Claim Partial Victory Over Bonn Square Battle
