Rising Tide of protest over Shale Gas

In the early hours of Thursday, 1st of December protestors from Bristol group Rising Tide breached security at the Banks Marsh site and scaled the drilling rig. The operators removed the groups banner from the outside of the drill cassette but protestors held fast later into the evening. There where several arrests.

http://soundcloud.com/reaf/bbc-radio-lancashire-01-12-11
http://www.flickr.com/photos/71113300@N08/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-15983592
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/fracking_protesters_storm_rig_1_4020734
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/12/489546.html
https://twitter.com/#!/BrisRisingTide

Interestingly the news team from BBC North West where interviewing REAF members at a nearby location and interupted the filming to get footage of the rig protest. However, neither the rig protest nor REAF where referenced in the resulting report aired on the 2nd December.

In addition REAF have worked closely with Lancs Police on public events and voluntarily attended a de-briefing following the previous rig protest. To date there has been no contact from Lancs Police in relation to this particular incident.