by Robert Booth, The Guardian,
Police officers try to break a human chain formed by anti-fracking protesters at Balcombe. Photograph: Tony Kershaw/Rex Features
Sussex police have made 14 arrests at an oil drilling site near the village of Balcombe after local people and anti-fracking activists attempted to block the delivery of machinery for a second day using a human chain and tree trunks.
Activists said police removed people who had blockaded the gates to the rural West Sussex site where the energy company Cuadrilla, headed by the former BP chief Lord Browne, intends to start test drilling for oil next week.
Sussex police said five people were arrested for causing danger to road users, and nine under trade union law for attempting to stop drivers and other workers from accessing the site. Police said the arrests were peaceful, but activists said there were struggles.
On Thursday the protesters, who had gathered by the gate to the drilling site on London Road, were warned by police that they would be committing an offence if they blocked trucks from entering.
Police protect a lorry delivering drilling equipment to the Balcombe fracking site. Photograph: Lee ThomasDemotix/Corbis
The alliance of environmentalists and villagers succeeded in turning away at least one truck carrying parts for the drilling operation, which Cuadrilla says could result in controversial hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the Sussex shale. Many camped overnight, but on Friday there was a heavier police presence, according to reports from campaigners.
"A human chain was formed in front of the gates and the police have made the first arrests," said Andrew West from the campaign group Frack Off. "People are really shocked it escalated so quickly."
This week the Environment Agency and the Department for Energy granted permits for oil exploration on the site to Cuadrilla, which also operates fracking rigs in Lancashire.
Opponents of the exploratory drilling fear that water sources could be polluted by fracking, rural lanes in the area might be congested with heavy lorries and that there could even be earthquakes from blasting liquid into the rocks to release oil and gas. The operation to break up the protest involved an estimated 75 police officers who marched down the road in formation, according to Lilias Cheyne, a anti-fracking activist who witnessed the arrests.
G4S staff guard the entrance to the Balcombe fracking site. Photograph: Lee Thomas/Demotix/Corbis [Ya gotta wonder if the dude not wearing a hard hat is part of management.]
"They just started taking people out one by one," she said. "Not everyone went voluntarily and there were some struggles. A girl was shouting at one point and seemed to be quite upset and the police seemed to be quite rough. I saw a policeman with his knuckles pressing on the side of a guy's face until he released the man he was holding onto. He was obviously hurting him. Another looked like he was bending someone's little finger back."
About half an hour later a tanker made its way onto the site – the first vehicle in over 24 hours since the blockade began on Thursday morning. The main road was reportedly closed to any other traffic, a move which anti-fracking activists said was interfering with their right to protest.
"Sussex police fully supports the right to demonstrate peacefully and within the law and also facilitate the contractors to carry out their business," said Superintendent Steve Whitton. "Our aim is to provide a safe and secure environment for protesters, residents and the contractors, to minimise disruption to the community and to prevent crime and disorder."
Ashley Williams, who witnessed the arrests, said: "This is a totally disproportionate response. The community are standing up for themselves against a company that is trying to poison them. As soon as regular people put their head above the parapet the state jumps in to defend the interests of a wealthy few."
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