Statement from Anti-fracking Campaigners
The following statement was read out by Shelia Menon on behalf of the five anti-fracking campaigners standing trial at Brighton Magistrates Court after being arrested during a peaceful protest over Cuadrillas plans to test drill for shale oil in the Sussex village of Balcombe.
“On 19 August, we took part in a peaceful protest in Balcombe, against fracking.
We are here to defend ourselves.
Balcombe is the start of a major struggle over the search and exploitation of yet more fossil fuels - and the stakes could hardly be higher.
This week the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report will be published, which is based on thousands of peer-reviewed studies and put together by hundreds of respected scientists. Leaked drafts suggest it will predict that climate change will cause violent conflict, displace millions of people and wipe trillions of dollars off the global economy.
Time is running out.
The latest science suggests that as much as 80% of known fossil fuel reserves must stay in the ground if we are to have any hope of avoiding dangerous climate change.
In a number of other countries, fracking is banned. We remain deeply concerned at the prospect of fracking here in the UK.
We’d like to thank the people gathered here for all their support.
We have been advised by our lawyer to make no further comment at this stage.
Thank you.”
Notes:
The five defendents standing trail are:
Josef Dobraszczyk
Ruth Jarman
Sheila Menon
Ruth Potts
Caroline Lucas