By Emma Hughes
Today, anti-fracking protestors from Reclaim the Power have targeted Cuadrilla at locations across the United Kingdom, shutting down their headquarters in Lichfield, their PR company in London and the Balcombe drill site. Campaigners condemned violent policing at the gates of the drill site, where police charged, shoved and kettled a group that included children, people in wheelchairs, pensioners, journalists and Member of Parliament (MP) Caroline Lucas.
“This an outrageously aggressive response to a day of principled civil disobedience,” said protestor Ewa Jasiewicz, who was at the kettle. “All of our actions have safety, dignity and respect at their core. Cuadrilla and the government were desperate to discredit fracking opponents. We offered them no aggression, so they are creating it themselves.”
Actions began at 8 a.m., when the central London headquarters of Bell Pottinger, the PR company behind Cuadrilla’s controversial fracking operation in Sussex, were blocked by six activists using superglue and reinforced arm tubes. Another activist climbed the building and unfurled a banner reading: BELL POTTINGER—FRACKING LIARS. The campaigners used a sound system to play an undercover recording in which a Bell Pottinger spin doctor admits the company’s pro-fracking PR offensive “sounds like utter f###ing bulls###.” For the rest of this story please click the link to EcoWatch: http://ecowatch.com/2013/uk-direct-action-fracking/