SKYE SAYS NO TO BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER

"Everyone sings about Over The Sea To Skye but who is going to think about that, coming here at 40 mph over a lump of concrete?"

At least 30 people were nicked on Tuesday night when angry islanders in a 'freedom convoy' - led by the local Pipe Band - got into some direct action. They blocked barriers just an hour after the Ł25M bridge linking Skye to Scotland opened and began charging motorists to cross.
Already hated for its effect on wildlife (it destroyed the second largest otter colony in Europe), intrusion on the beautiful skyline and ending the island's romantic isolation, the bridge - privately financed by the Bank of America - is now under fire for its excessive toll charges, the most expensive in Europe.
Islanders have no alternative route now the famous ferries have been taken out of operation on government instructions - even the disabled are being asked to fork out the full amount.
Protestors trying to stop work on the bridge two years ago had rocks thrown at them while the police rammed a press boat. Eight activists were arrested.
Local councillors boycotted the opening ceremony last Monday which was also marred by the fact that the structure, scheduled to last for 125 years, has already developed cracks! The operators, Miller Dywidag, will profit from the toll fees - Ł5.20 for a car in the summer - it is allowed to charge up to the year 2022. Meanwhile Skye and Kyle Against Tolls (SKAT) who are initiating the direct action are stepping up their campaign:

. * For people to not pay - they claim the toll charges are in breach of the 1707 Treaty of Union.

* Driving on the bridge from the Skye end where there are no barriers, but turning back before passing through the toll barriers on the mainland to disrupt traffic.

* Paying by small denomination coinage.

* Trying to resurrect the ferry service to challenge the bridges supremacy.

SKAT are also examining legal loopholes. Well-known Scottish activist Robbie the Pict, who has created the Independent Free State of Pictland for Scotland's indigenous peoples, also threatened further mass non-payment demonstrations. He warned: "What happened today was just a trickle - a gesture to show we would respond within the first hour of tolls being started. It will get much larger."

BAILIFFS GO HOME

People power again flexed its muscles on Wednesday when 250 people turned up to stop the threatened eviction of a community. A lone bailiff, watched by just two coppers, fought his way through the crowd, but was prevented from delivering the notices to quit.
The residents of Holt's Field on the Gower peninsula in South Wales have been the subject of a series of bitter legal wrangles for the past six years. The hamlet of 27 chalets, surrounded by deep woodland has been compared to "Arcadia" - the legendary Greek idyll - by one government inspector , and designated a conservation area for representing "a unique part of the nation's built legacy.

Landowner Tim Jones wants to build an exclusive housing estate on the site - an idea which Swansea City Council, the Welsh Office and the High Court have rejected. However a legal loophole means Jones can evict the occupants as trespassers - apparently out of spite.
A spokesperson for the Land Is Ours Campaign told SchNEWS "Forty-five people live in Holts Field ranging from a baby to an eighty year old woman, many have been here for decades. There houses are tiny but beautifully built. The community is one of the last places in Britain which truly deserves that term - they all look after each other."

The strong show of strength has impressed Swansea Council who are now looking at a Compulsory Purchase Order and organising funding to help people buy their homes . For