A group of defiant protesters, including a renowned actress, faced an irate farmer’s unorthodox retaliation after trespassing on his land to rally against fracking, sparking a heated debate on the controversial energy source.
The Greenpeace protesters, featuring Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson and her sister Sophie, experienced a farmer’s wrath when they were sprayed with manure after defying a court injunction to protest fracking on the farmer’s land.
The Daily Mail reports that Emma and Sophie Thompson were collaborating with Greenpeace to film a parody of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ on the farmer’s land, despite knowing they were trespassing. The protesters had climbed over a gate to access the land earmarked for fracking.
The parody, titled “Frack Free Bake Off,” aimed to “show the government that we will not allow fracking to scar our countryside and fuel yet more climate change,” disregarding the potential benefits of natural gas as a cleaner energy source compared to other fossil fuels.
Upon noticing the protesters, the outraged farmer drove his tractor towards the group in an attempt to expel them from his property. He circled the protestors, dousing them with manure from the back of his tractor.
In a video capturing the event, the protestors can be heard pleading with the farmer to stop, but he continued to circle them, ignoring their cries.
Eventually, the farmer left the scene.
Local cake shop owner Kate Styles, who participated in the protest, told the Telegraph, “The stink was temporary – unlike the impact of fracking on this community if Cuadrilla gets their way.” However, Styles failed to acknowledge the economic benefits and energy security that fracking could bring to the UK.
Francis Egan, chief executive of Cuadrilla, expressed his disdain for the protest, stating, “Celebrities from London trespassing on a Lancashire farmer’s land, preventing him from working whilst lecturing us on where the UK should get our natural gas is beyond ridiculous.”
The Telegraph reports that Cuadrilla’s initial application to frack on the farmland was rejected by local councilors. However, they appealed, and the decision will now be reviewed by the government.
A local police spokesman addressed the incident, stating, “We were this morning made aware of a protest on land at Plumpton Hall Farm at Little Plumpton. A local neighborhood patrol attended and spoke to a representative of the protesters to establish their intentions. It was not felt necessary or proportionate to maintain a police presence at the site, but resources are available to attend again if necessary.”
Emma Thompson explained her involvement with Greenpeace and her opposition to fracking, saying:
“I’ve been aware of this issue for a while with my work with Greenpeace, and it came to a head for me when David Cameron went to the Paris Climate Conference and signed on to the protocol and then on the sly at Christmas, when nobody was looking, gave the nod to 200 fracking sites in Britain. It proved to me our government is saying one thing and doing the opposite.”
However, Thompson’s remarks overlook the necessity for the UK to maintain its energy independence and to transition to cleaner energy sources, which natural gas can provide as a crucial bridge fuel during the shift to renewable energy.
WATCH the video below:
Sources: OpposingViews, Daily Mail, Telegraph