18.8.14
Six protesters dressed in toxic hazard suits talked to to passers-by and office workers who share the PPS building about the environmental dangers of fracking, fuel poverty, and the government’s recent report, showing that a reliance on fossil fuels would lead to a rise in domestic fuel bills over the next four decades, in contrast to a focus on sustainable energy, which would lead to lower bills.
Rathlin Energy fracking site blockaded at Crawberry Hill – Security Guards use extreme and brutal force against protestors
This morning, a group of campaigners have occupied and shut down a new fracking site at Crawberry Hill, East Yorkshire. Three protestors are locked and and two are superglued onto the outside gate. Security guards have used brutal and disproportionate force, in one case, pulling an older woman with so much force that they grabbed her shirt and exposed her body and pouring water over protestors. The protest follows a number of safety breaches committed by Rathlin Energy at nearby West Newton drilling site. A number of local residents are on site, showing their support for the protest.
IGas HQ occupied by protesters
15 Campaigners from Balcombe, Barton Moss and across the country have blockaded both entrances to the iGas headquarters, 7 Down Street, Westminster, London, W1J 7AJ. Police have arrived at the site alongside security, but look unlikely to act soon.
IGas were responsible for exploratory drilling at Barton Moss. The drilling saw over 6 months of local protests.
Swansea University Bay Campus shut down by residents and students campaigning against Fracking research
Today at 6am, as part of the Reclaim the Power camp, concerned residents from Swansea, students and graduates, dressed as mad scientists, shut down construction of Swansea University’s Bay Campus.
There are two protestors locked on, one up a tripod and a number of the group are inside the site and have dropped a banner which says ‘No Fracking’. Outside the site the banner reads ‘Dim Ffracio’. The protesters were angered by tens of millions of public money being funnelled into research on fracking via Swansea University’s new Energy Safety Research Institute.
Fracking protesters occupy DEFRA
Campaigners from the Reclaim the Power camp at Blackpool are this morning occupying the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in London, following the release of a government report released last week containing 63 redactions on the potential impacts of shale gas exploration on rural communities. The Metropolitan Police are already onsite at DEFRA.
At 8am three activists superglued themselves to the doors of DEFRA’s main entrance and deployed reinforced arm tubes to prevent access. Two activists each insert an arm into opposite ends of the same pipe, “locking on” to each other’s hands in various ways. Another activist climbed the building and unfurled a banner reading: ‘WHAT’S TO HIDE DEFRA? – DON’T FRACK WITH OUR FUTURE’. Some of the activists wore black tape across their mouths, highlighting the vital information which blacked out in the report.
Families’ Radioactive response to fracking
At 6.45am this morning, a number of families and their children placed 88 ‘atoms’ of Radium around Lytham as a temporary art installation to highlight concerns about negative impacts of fracking on public health and the environment from radioactive discharge.
Radium is just one of the radioactive materials released from the earth when it is fractured in the fracking process. The “atoms” will be placed around Lytham and each one will have a message attached with the website www.frack-off.org.uk guiding the public to all the latest research. The atoms are made entirely from biodegradable materials.
Frackstons are out in Preston, offering once in a frack-time deals on home sales & insurance