The risk of arrest at this Sunday's protest of a nearby nuclear power plant is no deterrent for several students and residents who gathered Tuesday night to prepare for civil disobedience.
Almost 15 students, residents and members of the Raging Grannies met in the Student Union with Jim Warren, director of N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network, to discuss a protest of Carolina Power & Light Co. and its failure to publicly address safety concerns about the company's Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant.
Sunday's protest, which is slated to begin at 3 p.m. at the Wake County plant, is part of a two-year fight put up by N.C. WARN, a grassroots organization that opposes plans to increase the amount of nuclear waste stored on-site.
At Tuesday's meeting, Warren addressed UNC's Students for Environmental Action Coalition and emphasized the necessity of cooperation with the police should participants be arrested.
"The group is as strong as every member of the group," Warren said.
"If one person loses control, we can all get hurt by this. We need to keep pressure on CP&L and draw attention to CP&L that this will place the whole region at risk."
During the meeting, Warren polled the group and found that at least six people would be willing to risk arrest at the protest.
Nora Wilson, co-coordinator of the campaign against CP&L, said she thinks Sunday's protest would be the next step in getting their voices heard, regardless of the possibility of arrest.
"I participated in previous protests," she said.
"It is important to motivate as many students as possible.
"It's time to move on to the next step."
That next step, though, will remain under wraps, Warren said, and this type of civil disobedience will be the only possible way that protest participants could be arrested.
Other protesters, such as the "Raging Grannies," who will be singing and chanting, should not be arrested for their protesting, he said.
Warren also told participants to reach out and find others who would be interested in protesting but urged teamwork among the group.
"This is not Seattle," he said, referring to chaotic protests of the World Trade Organization held there last spring.
"People are in overall concordance with each other, and we feel very confident we will have a very good situation with the police.
"Our goal is to make this thing grow and have the heat on CP&L."
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
