Anti-fracking activists from across the Northwest joined the camp at Barton Moss today in response to the violent, and possible illegal, actions of Greater Manchester Police.
The Barton Moss Protectors have been obstructing work by Igas daily since November 2013, primarily by the daily ‘slow walks’ in front of their vehicles as they make their way down Barton Moss Lane. Since the campaign began more than a hundred people have been arrested, mainly on a charge of Obstruction of the Public Highway.
However the ruling on Wednesday 12th February 2014 by Judge Khalid Qureshi in Manchester Magistrates Court that Barton Moss Lane was a Private Road to which the public have access as a footpath, and not a Public Highway, meant that charges will have to be dropped against most of those arrested.
For two days after the ruling the police took no action against the Protectors.
However on Friday Greater Manchester Police had a ‘St Valentine’s Day surprise’ for the campaigners as they started arresting people for Aggravated Trespass, a crime that involves the disruption of lawful work on private land which, by definition, does not include public footpaths.
The Protectors have frequently complained of violence by the Greater Manchester Police, especially since the police accused the camp of firing a flare at a police helicopter, an incident that appears to have only been witnessed by serving members of the GMP. On 30th January the police stayed in their vans, no arrests were made and the convoy took the same length of time to get from the A57 to the secure Igas site. There was subsequently an improvement in relations with arrested protectors being led away rather than being forced to the floor and handcuffed.
However on Friday there was more violence by GMP with Protector Vanda Shivett hospitalised after being arrested. She was subsequently released without charge.
Simon Pook of Robert Lizar Solicitors, who was visiting the site to meet a client and who witnessed the events of Friday said “What I have witnessed today at Barton Moss has confirmed my greatest fear … A fear that Greater Manchester Police appear to have discarded the European Convention of Human Rights into the gutter, and replaced it with political policing, re-enforced with overt aggression….I call on GMP and the Police and Crime Commissioner to tell the public: Why?”
Martin Porter of Frack Free Greater Manchester said “Despite the provocation the Protectors remain committed to non violent civil disobedience. This is turning into a battle between the soft power of a group of people committed to the protection of the land, and the hard power of an out of control police force. I don’t know who will win, but I know on which side I stand.”
Frack Free Greater Manchester Press Officer can be contacted on 07821 315254
Martin Porter can be contacted on 07546 230225
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