Woman arrested as Bowstring Bridge protest ends
A woman braved freezing temperatures and spent 12 hours chained to Leicester’s Bowstring Bridge in an effort to save it from demolition.
The protester, who identified herself as a mother and grandmother called Karen, was escorted from the bridge by police at 6pm.
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The protester before she was arrested
Members of the public who had gathered at the site, in Duns Lane in Leicester’s West End, cheered her as she was led away. Her health was assessed before she was arrested.
The 39-year-old had breached a razor wire cordon and chained herself to a main girder. She said she acted because she believed demolition was about to reach a point where damage would be irreversible.
The bridge is being knocked down by contractors working for Leicester City Council to make way for a new De Montfort University sports centre.
Speaking earlier in the day, Karen said she was staging her protest to convince the council to halt the demolition while the Government considered an appeal for the bridge to be listed.
Six previous requests to English Heritage for the bridge to be protected have been refused.
She said: “We have done all the legal protests for the past five weeks.
“We’re just hoping now that the Government reverses the decision on listing the bridge. This is a cause I care very deeply about.”
Stuart Simmonds, of the campaign to save the bridge and the pub, said: “We’re all very proud of Karen. We told her she wouldn’t be letting anyone down by agreeing to come off the bridge. She has halted the demolition work for a day and hopefully that will give us enough time for the Government to reach a decision.”
A Leicestershire police spokeswoman said: “A 39-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and she remains in custody.”
The spokeswoman said the protester had come down voluntarily.
Earlier, Gwen Houlihan, of Rowley Fields, called by to watch the protest. She said: “I hope she achieves what we all want and the bridge is left alone. I’m full of admiration for her.”
Leicester Civic Society last month asked the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to review English Heritage’s refusal to list the bridge.
Stuart Bailey, of the civic society, accused the council of “arrogance” for allowing demolition to continue while the Government was considering the case.
The council’s director of regeneration, highways and transportation, Jeff Miller, said: “Applications to list Bowstring Bridge have been made unsuccessfully on six previous occasions, the last time being in August 2009.
“This latest appeal was only made in mid-October, two months after the last application was rejected, and by which time work was under way. It would incur a substantial daily cost to stop the work at that stage, so it has progressed as planned.”
The future of the neighbouring Pump and Tap pub is in doubt, although the university, which owns both, yesterday said it still had no firm plans for the pub.
A spokeswoman said the progress of demolition work was a matter for the council.
Watch YouTube video of the protest.
32 Comments
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by Joe, Leicester
Thursday, November 12 2009, 10:53AM
“God why are there so many retards aloud to use the internet?
the people in support of demolishion have said some really dumb things like she should be arrested then you say stop waisting tax payers money? well dont you think arresting her for simply standing up for her beliefs isnt waisting money? the bridge doesnt waste money because its sadly neglected! as for the leisure centre? its just a swimming pool for the university i doubt they will even let non students in and why cant they just build it somewhere else its not exactly spacious around the bridge. Finally how does one bridge stop the regeneration of a whole city? what kind of logic are you applying to this, regeneration doesnt have to mean demolishing to build p**s poor built buildings that will have to be demolished in 2o years it can work around heritage like many other schemes (e.g. urban splash) its just a waste if we demolish all are history in the name of progress its one step forward but 10 back.”
by Mark H, Syston
Thursday, November 12 2009, 9:41AM
“I'm not fully upto speed with the ins and outs of the whole bridge debacle but suffice to say that as usual LCC and the people at the top of the tree dont give a stuff about the opinions of the public. They continue to waste money and ride roughshod over people because what they say goes. I applaude all the protesters and people with a passion to try and save the bridge, but once the decision was made all those months ago to demolish it by those in the ivory tower the bridge's fate was sealed. LCC want their new swiming pool and they will stamp their feet till they get it. This whole fiasco will hopefully come back to haunt LCC when it comes to re-election time.”
by Ed, Leicester
Wednesday, November 11 2009, 9:54AM
“I'd love to listen to his interview - do you have a link?
As for the "fact" that "they" destroyed a "vast" area of historic Leicester I'm still to be convinced. Most of what was changed in the 60s was only "historic" because it was old. This is not reason alone to keep it, you wouldn't be in favour of keeping "historic" slums for instance (I presume). People often cite the demolition of the streets to make way for St Nicholas Circle but very few people remember what was actually there before, and apart from one small house with historical associations I have never seen anything else that would not have been knocked down sooner or later anyway. You may not like what replaced these buildings but that is another issue altogether.
I'm not saying that some buildings that have been lost shouldn't have been (every city makes mistakes) but it is simply twisting the "facts" to blame "the '60s" for this when the most significant buildings were lost at various other times (and, rarely, I might add was it the council's fault - more often than not it was property developers). Why didn't Woods suggest the death penalty for Georgian developers who ripped the heart (to use the same emotive language as heritage junkies everywhere) out of the Medieval Leicester to build a few offices?”
by karin, Oadby
Tuesday, November 10 2009, 3:33PM
“Ed, listen to Michael Woods' interview. He specified the 1960's villians because they specifically destroyed a vast area of historic Leicester, this is a well known fact. I guess they would call it the historical quarter now, since they seem obsessed with 'quarters'. Also,its a little pedantic stating that someone who says 'they ought to be shot' is inciting violence. Take it in the metaphorical spirit intended.”
by C, West end
Tuesday, November 10 2009, 3:26PM
“I don't think we need to mount a new campaign... we've had to endure this one long enough.
People go on about wasting public money. People have mentioned Curve, Phoenix Square, DMHall. All of which to me have not been waste, but good moves to bring regeneration to the city and make it a cultural hub.
I think it would have been a waste of public money to regenerate the bridge and not been able to develop. So all we had was a bridge that was not used and look nice.
Furthermore I would rather my tax went on getting rid of the bridge now rather than halting demolition for a week or so and it probably costing more!”