A dawn raid, dissenters silenced: is this a war on trees? | Patrick Barkham

A private finance initiative has seen 4,000 street trees felled in Sheffield, with no credible explanation. No wonder ordinary people there are in revoltWhen Jenny Hockey was woken by two policemen hammering on her door at 5am last Thursday, her first fear was that some disaster had befallen her children or grandchildren. But as chainsaws revved in the dark and the officers ordered her to move her car, a disaster was about to befall her street trees. Related: The importance of urban forests: why