Olympic Protest Rally

3/10/2012 12:00:00 PM • London, Great Britain

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Olympic Protest Rally

Saturday 10th March 2012
Protesters rally at the site of the Olympic Basketball Practice courts on Leyton Marsh showing their disgust at what appears more and more to be yet another landgrab under the umbrella of the Coelympics

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Hackney hidden paradise rural landscape cityscape marsh wildlife dogs Metropolitan open land olympics landgrab basketball sport abuse outrage

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Kriss_Lee

March 11th 2012

I forgot this goes the other way :-)

the statement BELOW is courtesy of Caroline Day

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Kriss_Lee

March 11th 2012

the above is courtesy of Caroline Day

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Kriss_Lee

March 11th 2012

Press Release: Large Local Rally Against the Olympic Development

Around 200 local people attended a rally organised by the Save Leyton Marsh group on a sunny Saturday afternoon on Leyton Marshes. This is the second protest organised by the group and it was more than double the size of the previous protest just a week before.

Groundwork has begun on the marsh for the construction of 12m high basketball training facilities for the Olympic Games.

Locals gathered for the rally to hear speeches about the mounting opposition to the destruction of the marsh resulting from the huge construction. Around 75% of the marsh is now fenced off, preventing public access to the majority of the land and huge trenches have been dug for the foundations of the building.

People attending the rally were appalled by the impact the building works had already had on the marsh, describing it as ‘ruinous’,‘ a disaster’ and a ‘scarring of the land’. They expressed frustration that Lea Valley Regional Authority instead of acting as a guardian of this protected land, offered it to the ODA who did not consult local residents (including those living directly opposite the development) and are now using public money to dig up green belt land and guard the site, including with two dog units that have been disturbing locals overnight.

Banners reading ‘Save Our Marsh’, ‘No to Olympic Destruction: Save Our Green Space’, ‘2012 Olympic Gated Village’ and ‘Members Only’ were attached to the perimeter fencing. An exhibition of photos of dogs belonging to local dog walkers ‘before’ and ‘after’ the works were also displayed to demonstrate how the changes have negatively impacted the local community and the natural environment.

Protestors chanted ‘Save Our Marsh! Keep it Green!’ in front of the fences. One woman sang a song especially written for the day, expressing both sadness at what was happening and the determination of the protestors not to let the developers ‘take the marsh away’. The protest was lively, peaceful, colourful and attracted the attention of passers-by, many of whom who had no prior knowledge of the ODA’s plans for the land.

Save Leyton Marsh Group, formed entirely of local people, have been active against the proposed development on Metropolitan Open Land ever since the plans became public in late December. They will be taking legal action to try and bring a halt to works and are planning further protests.

Their next protest will highlight the destruction of the land as an amenity for local people and wildlife in the form of an ‘Eat and Greet Picnic’ this Saturday 17th March at 2pm on what remains green open space on Leyton Marsh.