ABSTRACT
In April 1997 protesters dug under the proposed site of a new stretch of the A30 at Fairmile, near Honiton in Devon, south-west England. Tree-dwelling protesters attracted considerable media attention but something about the action of those who ‘burrowed’ beneath the earth really caught the imagination of journalists. It also proved a very effective way of resisting eviction for these ‘green guerrillas’. Planning approval for a second runway at Manchester airport was granted just as the protest collapsed at Fairmile:
Swampy, and fellow eco-warrior, Animal, were hailed as heroes by many after they barricaded themselves in a tunnel for seven days and nights in order to try and stop the new A30 being built in Devon. On the day Swampy was presented to the media, TV crews turned out from Germany, France and Holland.
(Guardian 6 May 1997)