Battle of Brightlingsea
18th July 1995
Today, we watched the convoy of lorries, along with at least 150 other protestors, travel along Copperas Road, the road leading to the port. After some attempts to make the lorries stop and turn back, we finally saw them enter the port area. Today the protestors were stopped at the port gates.
The live export lorries unloaded the sheep on to the ship and the protestors waited for the convoy to come out. The police were in large numbers, expecting trouble because Mr Mills the exporter was also at the port. Then a shout from the crowd, "Here they come." The police came out of the port first and stood along the road. Then came the motorcycle outriders followed by the export lorries. The lorries trundled past at quite a speed. All the protestors could do was shout abuse. Then Roger Mills came out in his Range Rover. An egg was thrown, an arrest was made of a local family man who had his family with him. He protested his innocence, as did his wife. He was escorted away with his wife and family following, still protesting his innocence. It was too late, once the police had got to this stage the next stop was Colchester police station 12 miles away.
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