Did ESCC just spend over £1.4k ‘protecting’ County Hall from mince pies?

Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
Tuesday 12 December 2023

More info: 07596 483 272

PHOTO: http://tinyurl.com/absurdsecuritygrid [CAPTION: Climate campaigner with giant grid showing the sums of public money wasted on ‘security’ this year, 12 December 2023. Photo: Divest East Sussex]; http://tinyurl.com/stopwastingourmoney [CAPTION: Campaigners outside County Hall, demanding that East Sussex County Council ‘stop wasting our money on “absurd” security & divest from fossil fuels instead’, 12 December 2023. Photo: Divest East Sussex]; http://tinyurl.com/dangerousmincepies [CAPTION: The mince pies distributed to security at County Hall on 12 December 2023. Photo: Divest East Sussex]

DID ESCC JUST SPEND OVER £1.4K ‘PROTECTING’ COUNTY HALL FROM MINCE PIES?
Campaigners call on County Council to ‘stop wasting our money on “absurd” security & divest from fossil fuels instead’, as nine security guards hired to ‘protect’ County Hall from eight-person protest

Tuesday 12 December, County Hall, Lewes: East Sussex County Council (ESCC) hired at least nine security guards to ‘protect’ County Hall from a peaceful eight-person protest involving mince pies this morning (Tuesday 12 December).

Supporters of Divest East Sussex displayed a sign demanding that East Sussex County Council ‘stop wasting our money on “absurd” security & divest from fossil fuels instead’, as well as a giant grid showing the £30k+ of public money already wasted so far this year. The homemade mince pies were offered to all security personnel present at the Hall.

Based on past figures – obtained using the Freedom of Information Act – ESCC probably spent over £1.4k on the ‘security’ for this morning’s protest [2].

Press release: Climate protest at County Hall to demand ‘ESCC: stop wasting our money on “absurd” security & divest from fossil fuels instead!’

Press release
Divest East Sussex [1]
Friday 8 December 2023

More info: 07596 483 272

PHOTO: https://tinyurl.com/absurdsecurity [CAPTION: ESCC spent £6,578 to hire 40 security guards to ‘protect’ County Hall from these giant newspaper front pages on 19 September 2023. PHOTO: Steve Lewis]

CLIMATE PROTEST AT COUNTY HALL TO DEMAND: ‘ESCC: STOP WASTING OUR MONEY ON “ABSURD” SECURITY & DIVEST FROM FOSSIL FUELS INSTEAD’
East Sussex County Council accused of being ‘asleep at the wheel’ as climate crisis deepens

Tuesday 12 December, 9am, County Hall, Lewes: Climate campaigners will be holding a protest outside County Hall next Tuesday, with a giant sign demanding that East Sussex County Council ‘stop wasting our money on “absurd” security & divest from fossil fuels instead’ [2]. The protest takes place on the date of ESCC’s cabinet meeting and the last day of the UN climate conference (COP28).

Last month, a Freedom of Information Act request revealed that ESCC had wasted over £30k on security guards to ‘protect itself’ from the likes of email questions, petition hand-ins and fasters [3]. For example, on 20 July ESCC spent £6,758 hiring 40 additional security personnel to ‘guard’ the Hall from the ‘Fast for Fossil Fuel Divestment’, a tiny and completely peaceful vigil of (at its peak) seven people [4].