SPEAK to the rescue - Demo Report 18 Jan 07

Pedestrians were seriously injured when these hoardings were blown over by strong winds. Fortunately, SPEAK supporters conducting a regular Thursday demo were there to provide immediate aid to those trapped underneath as site workers and security who were present that day chose to prioritise the harassment of campaigners and hiding their faces over the lives of innocent people.

Click image to enlarge It was expected to be a usual Thursday demo against Oxford University’s new animal lab, but within minutes of SPEAK supporters arriving there was a loud crashing sound as a large portion of the security fence surrounding the lab was blown over by the gale force winds. The fence, reinforced with metal and topped with razor wire, fell directly onto those using the footpath beside the building site, trapping people beneath it.

Realising that people were trapped the SPEAK supporters and others dashed across the road and helped in lifting the heavy fencing so that the members of the public and university staff trapped could be pulled free and to make sure no one else was trapped.

One woman suffered wounds to her face including a suspected broken cheekbone, whilst a man sustained a broken or crushed leg. If the bollards that run along the edge of the pavement, hadn’t been there to take the full weight of the fence when it fell, there could very well have been fatalities.

The builders of this animal torture centre took their time in coming to help, and despite there being an emergency with people trapped and injured because of their shoddy workmanship, they still found the time to locate and put on their balaclavas before finally ambling out to make an appearance. However, by the time the disinterested workers arrived, the injured had already been removed from beneath the hoardings.

When their help was no longer needed the SPEAK supporters returned to the opposite side of the road to keep out of the way of the emergency services who were by now arriving. It was then realised that an Oxford University Security man was still filming the demonstrators, despite everything that had been going on, the security guard had not even bothered coming to the aid of the injured.

A decision was taken by those present to cancel the rest of the demonstration for safety reasons, as the winds were getting stronger and it was not known if the same workers who had done such a miserable job at erecting the fencing were also those that had put up the scaffolding! The canceling of the demo was only the second time SPEAK have called off a Thursday demo since the protests started at the lab nearly three years ago, the other time being on the 7th July 2005 during the London Tube bombings, when SPEAK decided to cancel the demo in order free up police resources that might be needed in London.

The Oxford animal lab has claimed its first victims. Only through sheer luck were the people hit by the hoardings not fatally injured. Unfortunately the next victims of the animal lab will not be so lucky. There will be no one who is able to run in and free those that are trapped and in pain. There will be no one to save those in distress who are crying out for help… no one except us… no one except you…

We cannot and we will not fail them.