Hundreds of protesters halted work at the UK’s largest opencast coal mine in Merthyr Tydfil during peaceful protests on Tuesday, May 3.
Around 300 campaigners from the Reclaim The Power group descended on Ffos-y-Fran at 5.30am to blockade use of the site, and protest against plans to open a similar mine in Nant Llesg on land between Fochriw and Rhymney.
Among the 300 activists was Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, and the mass occupation of the Ffos-y-Fran site ended at around 5pm with no arrests.
Reclaim The Power spokesperson Hannah Smith, who was a part of the action, said:
“Today we shut down the UK’s largest coal mine because we must keep fossil fuels in the ground to stop catastrophic climate change.
“Continuing to dig up coal is a red line for the climate that we won’t allow governments and corporations to cross.
“We are taking action in solidarity with the local community who have been battling Ffos-y-Fran for nearly a decade, and now face the threat of a new mine next door.
“Wales deserves a transition away from dirty coal, and the creation of sustainable employment in an economy that respects our planet and its inhabitants, now and in the future.
“With Wales going to the polls this Thursday and the climate crisis more urgent than ever, our action sends a bold signal that we must end coal now.”
Protesters donned red boilersuits and used props such as inflatable cubes, dragon puppets and metres-long red banners to promote the ‘End Coal Now’ campaign.
The site owner said it was concerned with the safety of everyone on site, including the protesters and emergency services, and that supporting the steel industry, affordable electricity and climate change were all important issues.
Neil Brown, Managing Director of Miller Argent, said: “What we need is a sensible debate that supports jobs in Wales. Welsh coal is an important part of this.
“The UK carbon tax is over five times of that in Europe, so it’s no wonder companies like Tata are losing money.
“The Conservative Government is responsible for this tax, the most anti-business tax ever imposed in the UK. This tax makes our electricity 65% more expensive than in Germany, which hits us all in the pocket.”
As well as halting operations at the site, campaigners protested against Miller Argent’s plans to open a similar 478-hectare opencast mine in Nant Llesg, between Fochriw and Rhymney.
Activists want a suspension on Welsh opencast mining to prevent pollution of local homes and the environment.
Miller Argent have appealed against Caerphilly County Borough Council’s decision to reject planning plans for the Nant Llesg site.
A bunch of middle class twits with nothing better to do with their lives than tour Europe protesting about the burning of fossil fuels, how did they all get there I wonder? One can only assume they all drove in their fossil fuel burning cars and coaches, and as they’re all either living off the bank of Mummy and Daddy, state handouts and charity donations they couldn’t care less about Welsh jobs. It was actually Labour’s very own Ed Miliband who in 2008 introduced the Climate Change Act which will cost the UK billions every year until 2050, and it was Ed Miliband who is responsible for the sky high cost of energy due to the Climate Change Act which he and Liebour introduced.
I agree, I am pro coal industry as there are no other forms of energy that match it for adaptability and price. Nuclear power, which the protestors probably favour, leaves a legacy of radioactive waste for thousands of years. That is fact, unlike man made climate change which is just a theory.
Additionally I would love to comapare my ‘carbon footprint’ with that of the protestors. I am certain it would be smaller than most of them. I have not flown for 8 years, walk in preference to using my car for runs of less than 2 miles, set my thermostat at 14 degrees at home, etc.
Your assumptions, betray your arrogance and ignorance.
Ian you must be a big fan of Margaret Thatcher, she did a great deal that this Reclaim The Power bunch would be proud of, shutting down the coal mines in Wales and keeping the black stuff in the ground, and what fossil fuel exactly do the shuttle buses run on that were laid on by Reclaim The Power to ferry people to the site from Merthyr, not DIEsel by any chance. They’re nothing more than a gang of middle class hypocrites who feel the need to protest against something, it doesn’t matter what, a road bypass, an airport expansion, nuclear weapons, capitalism, fox hunting, whatever bandwagon is passing they will gladly jump on it.