Bailiffs served papers today on workers occupying a wind turbine factory in moves to end the long-running protest.
The
warrant, which bailiffs taped to a window facing into the building,
gave the workers 24 hours' notice to leave and set an eviction deadline
of noon tomorrow.
One of the six remaining occupiers, Ian Terry, said: "They had stuck it up nicely in a place we could see."
Vestas
Wind Systems obtained a repossession order on Tuesday from a county
court on the Isle of Wight more than two weeks after employees
barricaded themselves into the plant at Newport.
The site was due
to close last week, with the loss of 625 jobs, because of falling
demand for wind turbines, but that has been delayed because of the
protest.
Police officers were on duty today outside the factory,
which is surrounded by a metal fence. A climate camp has been
established on a nearby roundabout, attracting support from scores of
demonstrators.
Four of the workers left the factory on Tuesday
shortly after the court order was granted, leaving six men inside the
building continuing the campaign to save their jobs.
The workers
were described as "heroes" by Bob Crow, the general secretary of the
Rail, Maritime and Transport union, which has been supporting the
protest.
A protest will be held tonight outside the Department of Energy and Climate Change
in London, with speakers including the Labour MP Michael Meacher, Jenny
Jones, a Green party member of the Greater London Authority, and Phil
Thornhill from the Campaign against Climate Change.
Thornhill said: "Just when we need a huge expansion in renewable energy they are closing down the largest wind turbine factory in the UK.
"The
government has spent billions bailing out the banks, and £2.3bn in loan
guarantees to support the UK car industry - they can and should step in
to save the infrastructure we are really going to need to prevent a
climate catastrophe."
He said the workers' actions had put the
government on the spot over whether it could match rhetoric with real
action on green jobs.