Protestors float boat at chemical works site
PeaceFul demo calls For company to back sustainable agriculture
ENVIRONMENTAL campaigners yesterday blockaded the main entrance to a Huddersfield chemical works, one of the town’s biggest employers.
Members of Extinction Rebellion chained themselves outside the main gates of Syngenta at around 7.30am preventing large vehicles entering the Leeds Road complex.
An Extinction Rebellion (XR) boat, which was used in other XR blockades in Huddersfield, Leeds and Lancashire, was used to block the entrance.
Meanwhile
Syngenta
security, having been warned a protest was coming, redirected vehicles into a rear entrance while staff on foot walked in via another entrance, near the main gates.
XR chose the site because of the company’s production of agricultural pesticides, including controversial neonicotinoids. Studies have linked neonicotinoids with the deaths of important pollinators like bees.
Protesters unfurled banners and affixed signs to nearby posts.
Mime performers the Red Rebel Brigade, who have appeared at other XR demonstrations, performed in their distinctive red robes at the protest.
The peaceful protest finished around 11am after it is believed protesters chained outside the gate unlocked themselves.
One of the event organisers, Anna Marie Byrne, said: “We want them (Syngenta) to support an agriculture that’s sustainable. So we want them to put their funding and research and their biologists and chemists into looking into a way of feeding the world sustainably, and not in a way that is compromising future generations’ ability to survive and the ability of the natural world around us to survive.”
Not everyone welcomed the demonstration however.
Christopher Day commented: “I get the whole thing with the climate change but this sort of nonsense does nothing for their cause but annoy local residents and employees.”
During the protest Syngenta released a statement claiming it had pledged $2m for innovation to help farmers better deal with threats posed by climate change.
A spokesman said: “Public safety and the well-being of our employees is always our primary concern. The protest group were asked to hold their protest peacefully and in a safe manner.