In a rapid-fire succession of civil disobedience actions across the United Kingdom, anti-fracking protesters came out in force Monday against drilling company Cuadrilla, shutting down their headquarters, their PR company and their drill site in Balcombe.
In an effort to suspend the “sustained campaign of corporate misinformation” being peddled by Bell Pottinger, beginning at 8 AM local time, six activists using superglue and reinforced arm tubes blocked the entrance company headquarters in London. Bell Pottinger is the PR company behind Cuadrilla’s operation in Sussex where fracking already occurs.
Reporting on the action, the group No Dash for Gas writes:
By 9 AM, 20 activists in Lichfield—two hours north of London—shut down Cuadrilla’s headquarters by blockading it with their bodies. According to No Dash for Gas, three people entered the building and successfully occupied 8 work stations using D-locks forcing the company to clear the entire floor of staff.
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“We need to reclaim our energy system from the hands of corporations that will frack our countryside, crash our climate targets and send fuel bills through the roof,” declared protester Debby Petersen.
And in Balcombe, where Cuadrilla’s test drilling site set off the nationwide protests, hundreds of protesters faced off with police as they locked arms around five activists who blocked the main gates by securing themselves with D-locks and superglue to a wheelchair. A larger group of activists reportedly blocked the surrounding road.
Meanwhile, No Dash for Gas reports, a double-decker bus with children from the camp toured the area with the slogan “Don’t frack with our future” emblazoned on the side of the vehicle.
Elsewhere, activists placed a wind turbine blade on the roof of the constituency office of Balcombe MP and Cabinet member Francis Maude, who was targeted for his pro-fracking views.
Reports of aggressive police tactics being used at the Balcombe protest have already drawn criticism and a formally filed complaint after a video surfaced of officers arresting a peaceful protester by “kneeling on his head and pushing his face into the ground as other officers restrain him.” Other police had reportedly charged, pushed and shoved protesters and forced “one protester’s head down with a bicycle wheel.”
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