Anti-fracking campaigners build new tower on road to drilling site

ANTI-FRACKING CAMPAIGNERS have built a tower in the road in the latest protest at the village of Kirby Misperton.

A man and a woman locked themselves to the tower after dragging it to the entrance of the proposed fracking site at Habton Road on Sunday.

They remained locked together on the tower overnight, police said.

A specialist police team was at the site yesterday with the road remaining open.

It comes after campaigners took part in a candlelit vigil at the site at around 7pm on Sunday.

The tower is the third built by campaigners at the site after two previous structures were dismantled.

One of the occupants of the tower said: “I want to send a message that what Third Energy is doing is wrong, fracking is wrong, poisoning our water is wrong. So I’m here to protect my right to a safe environment and a safe earth.”

It is the latest in a series of protests staged at the site in North Yorkshire, where hydraulic fracking is expected to take place before the end of the year.

Protesters said the tower was designed to disrupt deliveries to the site.

Dozens of arrests have been made by police in the village over demonstrations stretching back to September.

Superintendent Alisdair Dey, of North Yorkshire Police, said: “Once again, emergency services resources will have to be deployed to deal with this tower in the road – so the actions of a minority of protesters will cause significant disruption.”

He added: “When the balance tips from peaceful protest to unreasonable acts then we have to take action.”