Star date: 12th April 2014

STORIES FROM BARTON MOSS – Part 2

"We have done what we set out to do…to help local people to help themselves, to grow in strength, knowledge and numbers" Nick

Thousands of people have been involved in the Barton Moss anti-fracking campaign, from Salford, Greater Manchester and beyond. The Salford Star talked to two of these people, one from Salford and one from outside Salford, to see what has been achieved by the Community Protection Camp.

Here Nick, one of the so-called `outsiders' - from Huddersfield - tells his story.

Full details here…

"Anyone who takes a conviction from this campaign should wear it like a badge of honour because it's a conviction for doing something right in a very, very corrupt system…"

Back in January, Greater Manchester Police put out a press release stating that "the majority of people who are arriving on the site are not there to protest against fracking but are there to disrupt and intimidate the local community and to antagonise police…" (see here and see here).

During the next few months this was proved to be totally untrue as Salford people showed, by carrying placards at every daily slow walk of lorries entering and exiting the IGas exploratory drilling site proclaiming that they were `local residents' and supported the Camp.

Meanwhile, survey after survey showed that local people were opposed to any potential fracking. The fall out from the GMP accusation was that the number of local people at Barton Moss grew and grew and grew…

Nick, one of those accused by GMP of being there to `intimidate the local community' and `not to protest against fracking', tells his story to the Salford Star…

"I've been coming on and off since November last year and made it permanent in January. Barton Moss is almost just around the corner from Huddersfield, where I'm from. What attracted me to the campaign was that I'd seen footage of different fracking sites all over the world and the damage that they have done to the environment. I didn't want that to happen in our country or anywhere else, it's a global issue.

We did come along and lead a little bit by example with regards to non violent direct action, which in my opinion is probably the most effective way of disrupting the corporations. The numbers of locals on the walk ins and walk outs, particularly recently, has been heart warming and a testament to the hard work that the protectors have put in here.

It's also been heart warming to see so many brave unwavering locals putting themselves on the line and taking an arrest, knowing full well that you get a criminal record for it. But, like I've said to many people, anyone who takes a conviction from this campaign should wear it like a badge of honour because it's a conviction for doing something right in a very, very corrupt system.

We've had, I understand, over 230 arrests since November and I'm finding it hard to see how it is in the public interest to have that many court cases, which are quite clearly fabricated charges by the CPS and the Government. But of course the Government wants us to be put through the court system because they want to try and deter us from stopping them in their evil ways. I've been arrested five times with four pending court cases, it's an occupational hazard.

We have raised awareness. We have done what we set out to do, which was to continue helping the local people to help themselves to grow in strength, knowledge and numbers. We feel that we have achieved that. There's still a lot of hard work to do and we are relying on the locals to do some legwork while we are away, to keep us informed of what's going on. So that, if we do need to get back here quickly, we can be straight back on it with all the information we need to go ahead and get fracking banned.

At the moment, the most important thing we do is that we leave this site better than we found it. First and foremost because we care about the environment but we also don't want to give Peel Holdings IGas, Greater Manchester Police Farce or the Government any grounds to slate us any more than they have done in the mainstream media. It will look lovely when we're finished. If they're going to frack here I'll be coming back…"

See Part 1 - The Salford Protector's Story - click here

See also previous Salford Star articles…

Salford People Take on Councillors Over Barton Moss - click here

Salford Precinct Sees Huge Support for Anti Fracking Campaigners - click here

Survey Shows 80% of Barton Residents Oppose Fracking - click here

Salford Grandma Speaks Out Against Police Abuse at Barton Moss - click here

Salford Residents Shock at Barton Moss GMP Policing - click here

Photo by Steven Speed