Environmental activists resisted for their second night in the Euston tunnel, but eviction officials said the tunnel is close to gas and water pipes and that activists are putting their own lives at risk.
The tunnelers described how they built what is considered one of the largest tunnel networks occupied by protesters in one of the busiest parts of London without being detected.
The network has two main tunnels leaving in different directions from the descending axis and is said to be at least 100 feet (30 meters) long.
The tunnels were built over a period of several months after the establishment of a camp for environmental activists in Euston Square Gardens last August. They joined a community of homeless people who were already camped there.
Euston station is one of the busiest in London, serving trains, buses and the tube. It is on Euston Road, the main thoroughfare that runs through central London.
The metropolitan police, the British Transport Police, Network Rail, the Camden council and Transport for London have denied that it was their responsibility to monitor the site for the tunnel excavation. HS2 said it took possession of the site on Wednesday.
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One of the activists, Ben Hartley, told the Guardian how the covert operation was carried out in plain sight. “It is not a new idea for protesters to dig tunnels,” he said. “I’m pretty sure that the various organizations must have had an idea that something was going on.”
He said the tunnel network, which he described as an “extensive protest labyrinth”, was considered one of the largest of its kind.
Hartley said the most dangerous time for activists in a tunnel is when bailiffs start digging. He believes that at least two members of the High Court Enforcement, the group responsible for the eviction, are highly trained to handle this type of action.
He said of the excavation operation: “It’s a little like the Great Escape”. He said the main structure in which camp activists lived in the months leading up to this week’s eviction was a long living room with several rooms and a lockable front door. “If someone came in who we don’t like the look of, we just lock the front door,” he said.
When the excavation began under this residential space, the activists piled the removed soil on the floor of their home. “In the end, we were crouched when we went from room to room,” said Hartley. “In some places the earth was piled 3 feet high. We cut the wood to shore up the inner tunnel too, so that it could not be seen. “
He said that part of the purpose of the protest was to raise awareness about the loss of a precious park in the middle of a very urban part of the capital. “It is a pity that this park is being lost to build a temporary taxi rank,” he said. “We are smart and hardworking people and we want to raise awareness about the fact that this is part of the battle for the future of our species.”
Howard Rees, a spokesman for tree protectors at Euston Square Gardens, said an assembly of citizens was urgently needed to deal with the climate emergency. “We need a sensible British people to take the reins and guide us through it.”
The activists in the tunnel released images of turbulent exchanges with the eviction team, whom they accused of depriving them of sleeping 24 hours a day with their drilling and crash work. Larch Maxey, one of the occupants, said this was a form of torture for the tunnel’s inhabitants.
High Court Enforcement said: “The national eviction team was hired to legally remove activists from Euston Gardens. In their attempts to postpone the removal, illegal occupants occupied a tunnel roughly dug in the ground.
“We are aware, through our risk assessment and their statements in various media, that they had already experienced a collapse and water entering their tunnel. Illegal activists appear to have put themselves in danger of a further collapse of the tunnel and, potentially, of intercepting nearby gas and water pipes, leading to risks of suffocation, flooding and drowning.
“To mitigate the risks, we are using specialized air control compressors to circulate the air and equipment to monitor air conditions. The activists made no provision for this. We have engineers available on site to assess whether the tunnel passes close to pipes and cables for gas, water or other utilities. “