Star date: 11th March 2014

HIGH NOON DRAMA AS ANTI FRACKING CAMP GETS LEAVE TO APPEAL EVICTION

Defendants from the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp have been given leave to go to the Court of Appeal in London to contest the possession order granted to Peel Holdings yesterday. Judge Pelling gave the defendants until noon today to sort out the appeal and, as news reached the Camp just after noon, there were cheers and shouts of defiance.

Another dramatic day at Barton Moss came complete with a three and half hour lock-on and long delays to lorry deliveries, met with more Greater Manchester Police aggression and arrests as Salford people begin to take the lead in the protests.

Full details here…

Star date: 10th March 2014

`JIBBERING' JUDGE PELLING BACKS PEEL HOLDINGS

"I'm not saying he's been leant on over the weekend, it's not my place to say that is it?" Colin

This morning at the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, a stuttering Judge Pelling found in favour of Peel Holdings, which sought a possession order over land where the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp is currently sited.

Outside the court, Colin, from the Camp said "The judge…seemed a very cool, calm, collected character but at the delivery of the verdict suddenly seemed to turn into a jibbering, very nervous character. I read things into that…" Tomorrow morning lawyers for the Camp will seek leave to appeal the decision before the noon deadline.

Full details here…

Star date: 9th March 2014

GREATER MANCHESTER SHOWS ITS OPPOSITION TO FRACKING

Over 1500 people took to the streets of Manchester today to show their opposition to fracking, the day before a verdict is announced on the future of the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp.

Speaking at the rally after the huge march had snaked through Piccadilly, Albert Square and Deansgate, Colin from the Camp said that `pantomime villians' Peel Holdings - the company bringing the eviction case - is seeking to "set a precedent that the most visible sign of the resistance to fracking can be crushed". If the eviction happens, he added, Peel must "come up against the power of the people"…

Full details here…

Star date: 9th March 2014

SALFORD BANDS URGED TO SIGN UP FOR THIS YEAR'S FEST

Salford bands, singers, MCs and divas have one last chance this week to sign up to appear at this year's Salford Music Festival, which takes place in September.

The Festival features hundreds of bands from Salford and beyond in an array of diverse venues around the city and most gigs are free…"We do it for the love and cheek, and not the money" says co-founder Ed Blaney.

Full details here…

Star date: 9th March 2014

MI'KMAQ MESSAGE OF SUPPORT FOR BARTON MOSS ANTI-FRACKING PROTEST

"Stay strong, stand strong and continue to fight. When we work together with a common vision we can change the world"

Over in New Brunswick, Canada, the Mi'kmaq Warrior Society has been at the forefront of the battle against fracking, including a brutal showdown with the police last October after an injunction was obtained against their blockade.

The Mi'kmaq nation already has ties with Salford, due to its people's love of Coronation Street, and now those ties are being strengthened with a message of support to protectors at Barton Moss. Meanwhile, on Friday, the Mi'kmaq flag was being flown at the daily Salford protest against IGas.

Full details here…

Star date: 8th March 2014

FROM BARCA TO BROKE

Ossett Town 0 Salford City 3
Kendal Town 2 Salford City 0

On Tuesday night Salford City outplayed Ossett Town with their most comprehensive Barcelona-style passing away performance of the season. Then this afternoon could barely manage a shot at goal as they slumped to a 0-2 defeat at Kendal Town. To ease the pain of defeat, here's a special double match report.

Full details here…

Star date: 7th March 2014

BIGGEST UK ANTI-FRACKING DEMO AS BARTON MOSS CAMP STAYS

No To Fracking in Greater Manchester
March and Rally
Sunday 9th March
12:45pm* Piccadilly Gardens

On Sunday, Frack Free Greater Manchester hopes to hold the biggest march and rally ever seen in the UK against fracking. It comes as the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp awaits a judge's decision on Monday as to whether Peel Holdings will be allowed to evict campaigners from its land.

Full details here…

Star date: 7th March 2014

`IGAS SHOULD BE HAPPY IF A COURT CASE IS TAKEN AGAINST THEM'

IGAS' claims that fracking is perfectly safe should be tested in court, lawyers working on implementing the international crime of Ecocide told the Salford Star this week.

The lawyers were at the Barton Moss exploratory drilling site gathering evidence and said that IGas should be "happy for a court case to be taken against them so they could establish that fracking is, indeed, perfectly safe".

Full details here…

Star date: 6th March 2014

AS BARTON MOSS PROTECTOR CAMP EVICTION GOES TO COURT A LOCK-ON COFFIN BLOCKS LORRIES AT IGAS SITE

Today, as Peel Holdings went to court to attempt to evict anti-fracking campaigners at the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp, a black coffin lock-on appeared on the public footpath at Barton Moss Road, delaying IGas delivery lorries for hours. The sign on the coffin read `Frack will seriously damage your health'.

No result has come from the High Court today for Peel's `possession order' for the land it owns on Barton Moss Road.

Full details here…

Star date: 5th March 2014

IGAS SHARES PLUMMET AS DAILY ANTI-FRACKING PROTESTS BITE

Shares in IGas, the company which is carrying out controversial exploratory drilling at Barton Moss, Salford, have plummeted since January, losing over 20% of their value according to latest Stock Exchange valuations.

The company has admitted in confidential documents seen by the Salford Star that `the timescales for the exploratory drilling have been delayed due to the protesters'. The delays will have cost IGas huge amounts of money, apparently reflected in its share value loss.

Full details here…

Star date: 5th March 2014

`COME AND SEE HOW PEOPLE ARE BEING HURT EVERY SINGLE DAY FOR NO REASON' SAYS SALFORD GRANDMA

"I feel violated, abused…and I don't break the law"

A grandmother from Salford has urged local people to go to Barton Moss, not to protest, but to see the antics of the Greater Manchester Police Tactical Aid Unit, following another unnerving day on the anti-fracking protest.

"My message is `Come down for one day, you can stand away from it all, and you will see what is actually going on here, and you will see how people are being hurt every single day for no reason'" says Gaynor from Irlam.

Full details here…

Star date: 4th March 2014

AFTER BARTON MOSS BRUTALITY ACCUSATIONS LLOYD SETS UP PROTEST PANEL

After three months of almost silence in the face of accusations of GMP policing brutality at Barton Moss, the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner, Tony Lloyd, has set up an `independent panel to examine major protests and demonstrations'.

A statement from Lloyd issued yesterday says that the panel will meet this week to "discuss recent major demonstrations in Greater Manchester including the ongoing protest at Barton Moss". Frack Free Greater Manchester has already asked to address the panel.

Full details here…

Star date: 3rd March 2014

GMP KETTLE RESIDENTS TRYING TO PROTEST ON PUBLIC FOOTPATH

"The police seem to have forgotten their remit, they've lost the plot" Colin

Greater Manchester Police inspectors this morning denied local residents and anti-fracking campaigners the right to protest on Barton Moss Road, the public footpath used by lorries delivering to the iGas exploratory drilling site.

After a two hour lock-on in the road by three protectors, residents were kettled at the side of the road by Tactical Aid Unit officers, allowing lorries to drive unimpeded up the lane for the first time in three months.

Full details here…

Star date: 3rd March 2014 

BARTON MOSS CAMPS OUTSIDE GMP HQ IN NEWTON HEATH

Barton Moss campaigners last night occupied land outside Greater Manchester Police headquarters in Newton Heath in protest at GMP Tactical Aid Unit's `brutality and violence' while policing daily demonstrations at the iGas exploratory drilling site in Salford.

This morning, protectors told the Salford Star that they didn't believe the `heavy mob' should be brought in to police peaceful protest.

Full details here…

Star date: 3rd March 2014

SIX THOUSAND YOUNG PEOPLE IN SALFORD CRACKING UP

"I've expected a massive mental health implosion in Salford since 2009 and it looks like it is here" Julie Blower Tree Tops Counselling

Around 12%, or six thousand young people in Salford, are cracking under the strains of mental health issues – which range from bullying to exam and sexual pressures to parenting problems. Yet there's little or no funding to sort it out.

Now a voluntary group, Tree Tops Counselling Salford, which could only help 520 young people last year, has launched a Fight The Pressure Salford campaign to try to bring awareness to the `implosion'.

Full details here…

Star date: 2nd March 2014

`WE'RE SLEEP WALKING INTO A POLICE STATE'

Carole Duggan, aunt of Mark Duggan whose shooting by police officers led to the UK riots of 2011, said today that "We're just sleep walking into a police state… as the police, with the support of the government, think they have the right to go out and kill".

She was speaking at a Piccadilly Gardens vigil for Anthony Grainger, two years after the Salford man was shot by an officer of Greater Manchester Police.

Full details here…

Star date: 2nd March 2014

GANGSTER DOLPHIN, SEXED UP DOLPHINS AND MORE IN THIS MUST READ SALFORD BLOCKBUSTER

The Perfect Pair: The Mirror Cracks (Matador)
David C Holroyd and Tracy J Holroyd

Anyone who thinks that a dolphin's permanent smile means they're happy, needs to read The Perfect Pair books by Salford authors David C Holroyd and Tracy J Holroyd.

After last year's all-diving, all-splashing `factional' expose of what goes on behind closed dolphinarium doors, comes the sensational sequel, The Mirror Cracks, complete with gangster, sexed up and screwed up dolphins swimming around their psychic trainer.

Full review here…

Star date: 1st March 2014

MANCHESTER UNITED CLASS OF '92 COME TO WATCH THE AMMIES

Salford City 0 Curzon Ashton 2

Following reports that Manchester United's Class of '92 are about to buy into Salford City FC, today saw the consortium's Ryan Giggs, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes stand behind the goal at Moor Lane to see the Ammies at close quarters.

Salford lost 0-2 to top of the table Curzon Ashton, courtesy of an own goal and a penalty.

Match report and photos here…

Star date: 1st March 2014 

TWO YEARS ON AND STILL NO ANSWERS OVER SALFORD MAN'S DEATH

Marina and John Schofield, the mother and stepfather of Anthony Grainger, have criticised the Independent Police Complaints Commission on the second anniversary of his death.

The unarmed Salford man was shot by an officer of Greater Manchester Police on 3rd March 2012 and, two years on, the family are still looking for answers into the circumstances of his death, with little progress… "The disillusionment of the family with the entire process is understandable" they have said in a statement.

Full details here…

Star date: 28th February 2014 

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH DIRECTOR QUESTIONS GOVERNMENT AND POLICE PRIORITIES

`Is the Government and the police protecting the interests of big corporations here?…'

There were more arrests and Greater Manchester Police aggression at Barton Moss today, as a Friends of the Earth Director questioned both Government and police priorities on a visit to the Salford Community Protection Camp site.

A lock on in the middle of the public footpath on Barton Moss Road by two protectors ensured that iGas delivery lorries were delayed for over an hour from exiting the exploratory drilling site, but later Tactical Aid Unit officers went into action.

Full details here…