A local protest can begin with one person standing at the edge of a road, asking a simple question: who is protecting this community? In Crowborough, campaigners say that question became impossible to ignore after a former British military site was repurposed to house men we describe as pro-Russian mercenaries. The issue quickly grew beyond the site’s perimeter. It became a dispute about public safety, local consent, policing, media coverage, national duty, and the right of f