In the tipping hall at SELCHP
They begin to seal chimney on occupied London incinerator
Nine Greenpeace volunteers continue to defy a crack squad of specialist bailiffs as their occupation of a London rubbish incinerator enters its third day. The volunteers have kept the SELCHP plant in Lewisham shut since early Monday morning to prevent the discharge of cancer causing chemicals and have vowed to maintain the occupation for as long as possible. At 8am today specialist bailiffs forced an entry through barricades and entered the main rubbish hall where refuge is fed into the furnace.
The mechanical grabs which manoeuvre rubbish into the incinerators have been occupied by Greenpeace volunteers since Monday morning, shutting off its fuel supply.
The bailiffs are expected to spend the rest of the day trying to remove the volunteers who are suspended on climbing ropes over the main rubbish pit. At 8.30am today the three Greenpeace volunteers occupying the top of the 300ft incinerator chimney began the process of sealing the flues to prevent the plant from restarting operations while the incinerator is still occupied.
Speaking from the top of the chimney, Greenpeace volunteer Mark Strutt from South London said: "We are 300 feet up and we intend to make it as difficult as we can for the bailiffs to get to us. We are have sealed the chimney flues to keep this toxic plant closed for as long as possible. Every hour this incinerator remains shut we are protecting people from cancer causing chemicals and other poisonous gases."
The SELCHP incinerator, owned by French multinational Onyx, routinely releases significant quantities of chemicals called dioxins which the World Health Organisation classifies as causing cancer in humans. The government has already admitted that one in three Britons are taking in the maximum amount of dioxins that is considered 'safe' and more than half of Britain's babies and toddlers exceed this limit.
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