Barton Moss fracking protestor Pete Roberts claims 'victory for UK citizens'

Callands resident Pete Roberts was charged with aggravated trespass after a protest at the Barton Moss test fracking site in February 2014.

Scores of protestors faced legal battles after they took part in a ‘slow walk’ along Barton Moss Road, but a judge at Manchester Magistrates Court found Mr Roberts not guilty of the offence last month.

Now he has claimed his case is a ‘victory for UK citizens’.

Mr Roberts said: “This is a victory for the UK citizen’s right to peacefully protest and shows that political order seems to be preferred by the government and Greater Manchester Police rather than the enforcement of the law.

“Peaceful protest worked at Barton Moss – the powers that be desperately wanted to turn it into another miner’s strike by using provocation to tempt a violent response or using an overblown police response to trick the public into believing protestors are violent or somehow dangerous.

“The rights of big business with their bosses in tax havens of Switzerland and the Isle of Man are being put above the rights of the UK citizen.”

The process of fracking sees water and chemicals pushed down into a drilled well in order to fracture the ground and extract gas that is trapped under the surface.

But Mr Roberts highlighted an undemocratic process of attempts to implement fracking in the UK with concerns looming over its safety and impact on the environment.

He added: “There is no need for any onshore gas extraction – most sane counties have banned it already.

“There have been reports of giant methane leaks in California impacting people’s health and UK insurance firms are deleting fracking damage to your house from their cover.

“This has always been a battle against the government pursuing their fracking – they’ve decided to ram fracking down the UK’s throat without caring for democracy or public outcry.

“I think the Bullingdon boys may well have a scrap on their hands.”