See Jill’s film (4 Parts) – Note that this film is now several years old, and many issues have changed; some for the better, some are still as they were and some, well, have possibly declined even more !
Part 1 – http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9062786490002108922#
Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XubIUrWJ7ro
Part 3 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1jOLviy15w
Part 4 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7dvQpOd3vc&feature=related
Musical Tribute to Jill: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra1DgyTt1TI
Jill Phipps (15 January 1964 — 1 February 1995) was a British animal rights activist who was crushed to death in Baginton, Warwickshire, England by a lorry transporting live veal calves heading for continental Europe via Coventry Airport.
Fatal accident
On 1 February 1995, Phipps was one of 35 protesters at Coventry Airport in Baginton, protesting at the export of live calves to Amsterdam for distribution across Europe. Ten protesters broke through police lines and were trying to bring the lorry to a halt by sitting in the road or chaining themselves to it when Phipps was crushed beneath the lorry’s wheels; her fatal injuries included a broken spine. Phipps’ death received a large amount of publicity, being brought up at Prime Minister’s question time in the House of Commons.
The Crown Prosecution Service decided there was not enough evidence to bring any charges against the driver. Phipps’ family blamed the police for her death, because the police appeared determined to keep the convoy of lorries moving despite the protest. The inquest heard that the driver may have been distracted by a protester running into the road ahead of him, who was being removed by a policeman.
The policeman in charge of the protest speculated that Phipps had chosen “deliberately [to] fall” under the wheels of the truck, but Phipps’ father insisted that she did not want to die as she had a young son to live for.
Aftermath
Veal calf exports from Coventry Airport ended months later, when the aviation firm belonging to the pilot responsible for the veal flights, Christopher Barrett-Jolly, went bankrupt following accusations of running guns from Slovakia to Sudan in breach of EU rules. In 2006 he was charged with smuggling 271 kg of cocaine from Jamaica into Southend airport.
The continuing level of protest was such that several local councils and a harbour board banned live exports from their localities.[4] All live exports of calves later stopped due to fears of BSE infection. In 2006 this ban was lifted, but Coventry Airport pledged that it would refuse requests to fly veal calves.
Memorial website link: http://www.jillphipps.org.uk/
Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jill_Phipps
The fight to stop Uk live animal exports continues to this very day – please visit Kent Action Against Live Exports (KAALE) at http://www.kaale.org.uk/ to see events which are happening at the only port in the Uk which is now exporting live animals – Ramsgate, Kent, England.
In memory of Jill:
Memorial for Jill, Ramsgate, Kent, England – Saturday 4th February 2012.
Includes walk to and protest at port, memories of Jill from friends, wreath laying etc. Family event; all welcome.
Meet at HSBC Bank opposite Nero Cafe in Ramsgate High Street at 11 am.
Filed under: CAMPAIGNS - Global Animal Welfare Issues, GENERAL NEWS - International / National / Regional, PHOTOGRAPHS - **WARNING** (Animal Suffering) | Leave a comment »