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The HS2 eviction team has spent more than 18 hours trying to remove one of the environmental protesters from tunnels dug near Euston Station in London.
It is understood that he is still “locked up” underground, and there are concerns about his well-being.
Larch Maxey, 48, one of nine activists who have spent more than a week below Euston Square Gardens, said sheriffs had started “drilling” to pull 20-year-old Lazer Sandford from the bottom of a well. Thursday night.
The eviction team has been digging around Sandford to free it from its blockage, a metal “arm tube” buried in concrete in the ground. They said Sandford had been offered safety glasses, masks, hearing protection and a fire-retardant dust blanket.
In video footage released Friday afternoon by protesters showing the sheriffs’ attempts to remove Sandford, he can be heard saying: “A sheriff has been sitting on me for at least an hour. I find it incredibly uncomfortable as you can imagine. It would be nice if he could get rid of me. “
A spokesperson for HS2 said they were not commenting on the claims made in the video clip. Concern has been expressed about Sandford’s condition. But his fellow protesters say he is holding up well.
The team has been digging a parallel well in recent days and connected it to the protesters’ well Thursday night, meeting face to face for the first time. Sheriffs, who are part of the High Court Enforcement National Eviction Team, have used a pump to remove some of the water from the tunnel floor.
Activists intermittently streamed some occasionally shaky video footage from the tunnel on Thursday night and Friday morning. Other activists in the tunnel can be heard watching Sandford and praising his mettle as sheriffs surround him.
Maxey said digging the parallel tunnel by the sheriff’s team was the safest way to carry out the eviction.
The activists remain focused on their message and their reason for excavating and occupying the Euston Tunnel. “There is massive deforestation. We need to protect all the trees. HS2 is taking communities by storm, ”said Scott Breen, 47, who is among those in the tunnel.
HS2 says it is planting 7 million trees to make up for those uprooted by high-speed rail development.
While activists are concerned about the climate emergency in general and the entire HS2 project, one of the reasons for digging a network of tunnels under Euston Square Gardens was to try to protect the green space, which they claim will be built with a taxi temporary. range before being sold to developers as part of plans for the railroad.
HS2 Rebellion, an alliance of groups and individuals campaigning against the project, has called on the government to eliminate the “costly, unpopular and destructive” scheme before it is too late and establish a national citizens’ assembly to “lead the way out. of the climatic and ecological emergency ”.
Dan Hooper, the veteran environmental activist known as Swampy, and his 16-year-old son Rory are among the group in the tunnel.
Earlier this week, a superior court judge rejected a legal attempt to stop the eviction.
Judge Knowles denied a request by Maxey for a court order requiring HS2 and others to cease operations. HS2 Ltd has said that it has legal possession of the land and has repeatedly urged the protesters to leave “for their own safety” before the eviction team removes them.
A spokesperson for HS2 said:
“The safety of trespassers and HS2 personnel and emergency service personnel in this operation is of the utmost importance. We are doing everything we can to safely end this illegal action, and progress has been made with secured access to the underground tunnel. As reported this morning, illegal intruders have clung underground, increasing the danger to themselves, but also to our team and emergency services.
“The high court issued an order this week requiring the squatters to leave its tunnel. Dr. Maxey has yet to comply with the court order, which also told him to provide information on the tunnels and their occupants. We urge Dr. Maxey to comply with the order as soon as possible, for their safety and the safety of the other activists and the HS2 staff and agents charged with removing them from the danger they have placed themselves in. “
