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SIX anti-fracking campaigners were arrested yesterday after staging a “lock-on” protest at the gates of Cuadrilla’s unwanted Preston New Road fracking site yesterday.
The firm has a court injunction barring “persons unknown” from protesting at the site near Fylde, Lancashire, but the six defied the ruling to disrupt operations.
Ministers gave Cuadrilla the go-ahead to frack at the site yesterday, subject to certain conditions, despite local councils making it clear they are opposed to drilling.
The six, from Preston New Road Protectors and Frack Free Lancashire, were all charged with obstructing the highway, obstructing the police and interfering with a person’s right to work. There was no news yesterday if they would be charged over defying the injunction.
Before their arrest, a protest spokesperson told the Star: “We are using our enshrined-in-law human rights to protest, to challenge a polluting industry that holds no social licence in our community.”
They said their protest was aimed at challenging the “extreme and expensive” injunction aimed at preventing “meaningful” protest.
“Fracking has no residential support within the UK, with the government pushing it upon communities who have already said No.
“Why should a national government overrule local governments, to force this industry on communities? Why has the law been misused for the benefit of wealthy corporations?
“There has to be a strong line drawn under such abuses of law and democracy. This today is our line.”
Fracking involves drilling into shale layers deep beneath the earth’s surface, pumping in a toxic mixture of chemicals, sand and water to release gas.
Opponents say it can pollute water tables and the atmosphere and industrialises the countryside.
Peter Lazenby is Morning Star Northern Reporter