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United Kingdom: Anti-fracking group stages day of action

Guardian: Anti-fracking protesters caused peaceful disruption at several locations on Monday, gluing themselves to the doors of a government department, occupying a building used by an energy firm and blockading access to a test drilling site. Activists dressed in toxic hazard suits staged a protest outside the London offices of Political Planning Services (PPS), a PR firm that represents the oil and gas exploration company Cuadrilla. The stunts were part of a day of direct action declared by Reclaim...

United Kingdom: Police accused of brutality as fracking protester is left ‘battered and bruised’

Guardian: A protester at an anti-fracking demonstration in Greater Manchester claims he was left "battered and bruised" after being assaulted by police officers. Sean O'Donnell, who is known as Kris, shot a video of himself being apparently shoved to the ground by police at the Barton Moss protest camp in Irlam, Salford. The 44-year-old, an IT consultant from Newcastle who has been living at the camp on and off since before Christmas, was taken to hospital after being arrested on Monday on suspicion...

Salford anti-fracking camp enjoys local support

Guardian: As the wind felled trees, flooded homes and cancelled ferries this week, much of the nation needed little excuse to stay indoors. But for a group of hardy anti-fracking protesters camped by the M62 on Barton Moss in Salford, near Manchester, going inside was not an option, explained Joe Boyd, a 40-year-old builder from Liverpool who was on not just his first demo but also his first real camping trip. Before the storms hit the north, Boyd was already wrapped up warm: a coat, a fleece, two woolly...

United Kingdom: Four arrested for blocking lorry on way to Salford methane test-drilling site

Guardian: Four anti-fracking protesters have been arrested as they tried to stop a lorry delivering machinery to a potential methane-gas extraction site in Salford, Greater Manchester. The three men (aged 41, 42 and 47) and one woman were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of obstructing the highway, according to Greater Manchester police. The demonstrators were part of a group of about 30 people who had been attempting to block a lorry delivering a well-setting drill to the site in Barton Moss, right by...

United Kingdom: Fracking faces legal challenge from Lancashire farmer & Greenpeace

Guardian: A Lancashire dairy farmer has joined forces with Greenpeace to launch a challenge to fracking in England. The environmental charity is working with people in Lancashire and the West Sussex village of Balcombe whose homes are near sites where the energy company Cuadrilla is looking at using hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas and oil. Andrew Pemberton, who supplies milk to 3,000 households in Lytham on the Lancashire coast, said he had joined the campaign because he would lose his livelihood...