Saturday 9th of October saw 250-300 people march from the Balmedie Visitor Centre across the dunes to the farm of Michael Forbes via land that “belongs” to Donald Trump. The march was in support of and attended by the families threatened with eviciton by Trump’s proposed luxury housing development and Golf course. The march went across the beautiful dune landscape which made an interesting change from the usual urban marches and felt more like going for a relaxed walk than a confrontational protest which Tripping up Trump were keen to avoid.
This is due to the “security” guards who regularly go around intimidating walkers and other people enjoying the country despite Trump’s assurances that the right to roam would be mantained under the Scottish Land Reform laws. Various altercations with the security gaurds have been reported to the police due to the heavy handed nature. A journalist was recently forcibly detained by Trump’s heavies. This is not an isolated incident as a horse rider was almost seriously injured as the guards raced up to her at high speed almost dismounting her from the panicking horse. The woman in question was also forcibly detained and seeks to press charges.
The march ended at the plot of land on Mr Forbes’s land called “The Bunker.” The bunker was donated to Trippig Up Trump and is collectively owned by hundreds of people, seriosuly complicating the prospect of compulsory purchase orders being used to forcibly remove the Forbes family.
After the march a small group went to investigate area of dunes that had been demolished and shaped into Trump’s Vision of leaving the ancient dune system “better than he found it.” A pick up truck came hurtling down the dirt road and two plain clothed “security” guards promptly telling us to leave for our own good as they would tell the police we were on a construction site without a high visibility jacket or helmet by standing on……a sand dune. They followed us all the way back, watching from a distance, not responding to requests for a lift despite the fact that we happened to be going in the same direction for some reason…. This was a very small taste of what the families living around the area have to put up with from some greedy corporate scumbag’s bought lackeys on a regular basis.
The police did turn up about 2 hours later to question people about some supposed vandalism (apparently grass had been damaged) and we did of course promptly inform the police that there was a rich american man completely destroying a Site of Special Scientific interest and vandalising the country side with some machines just up the road. But apparently they already knew……
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REi2Jg-Cn7U&fs=1&hl=en_GB]
We would encourage people to check out the alternatives to the P&J group and their ridiculous views in the form of the local citizen run paper: The Aberdeen Voice.
