LETTER : The British way of protest

From Mr John Watson

Sir: In your report today on the recent activities of the "New Levellers", you quote one George Monbiot as saying:

Our intention is to leave the land in a better state than before we arrived ... We want to show that this kind of action can be done without destroying the countryside.

As one of the local residents who watched with disgust as their camp was being set up on an unspoilt piece of woodland just south of Wisley airfield, I find his statement hard to reconcile with the tearing down of branches of trees and of saplings, the trampling of undergrowth and wild flowers, the lighting of fires, and the frightening of the wildlife of the area, undoubtedly including many nesting birds. Sheer vandalism is not too strong an expression for what we saw.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN WATSON,

Cobham,

Surrey

24 April