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text in English: Dodewaard will close! Week of action- and blockades 19-26 september 81
background: This is the official 1981 Dodewaard gaat Dicht!
poster. As said, during the preparation s it became clear that the character
of the action would differ from 1980. A sign for that was the intention
to build an anti-nuclear village on the roads leading to the reactor (there
are three roads leading to the reactor which meet right before the
main entrance. That crossing is the only way to the main gate
(see aerial photo). The anti-nuclear village was publicly announced
as being a shelter for bad weather, and it was, but at the same time it
was the intention to use it as a protection for police attacks and to ‘solidify’
the blockade. Another difference with the year before was the squatting
of a pasture land for the camp, very close to the blockades. With this
settled, the infrastructure for the blockade, which was meant to last a
week, had been organized.
In the weeks before an enormous fear for the demonstrators was build
up by regional rightwing groups, but also national press and political
parties. Many reports about chaos and violence where printed, the immediate
surrounding of the site had been changed into a fortified ‘military’ site.
It was called the best secured spot in the country and hidden microphone’s
on the roads to the site where only one sign of the enormous preparations
by the state. A few thousand riot police were stationed on site and in
nearby military barracks. The tension was mounting.
city: Nijmegen
country: The Netherlands
date & year: August 1981
produced by: Dodewaard gaat dicht secreatriaat