The government thinks it can violate a small Yorkshire village. Drone footage shows it’s wrong. [VIDEO]

Drone footage has emerged of the biggest demonstration a quiet Yorkshire village may have ever seen. And it shows that residents and campaigners will not tolerate the government trampling over their rights.

Another site, another fracking company

The government has granted Third Energy a licence to extract shale gas (fracking) at the KM8 site, in the village of Kirby Misperton in North Yorkshire. The county council granted Third Energy planning permission in May 2016, but local residents and Friends of the Earth went to the High Court to challenge the decision in December.

But the judge ruled in Third Energy’s favour, and work has been progressing to prepare the site ever since.

Meanwhile, residents and campaigners set up the Kirby Misperton Protection Camp. It aims to highlight the opposition to fracking that exists in the area. Demonstrations have been ongoing since the start of the year.

And on 4 November, campaigners organised a mass trade union rally to the site.

Don’t frack us

Members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT), Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Unite and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) held a rally from the village hall to the gates of the KM8 site. And as drone footage shows, the event was a success:

Kirby Misperton Protection Camp told The Canary:

The trade unions… dispute the government’s claims that… fracking will create 64,000 jobs, countering that a million sustainable jobs could be created through… green energy.

A fracking disgrace

Campaigner’s concerns about fracking are over-arching; from polluted drinking water and earthquakes, to its contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. What makes it a hot topic, though, is the public anger it provokes, witnessed at sites such as Preston New Road and KM8. But in Yorkshire, with trade union backing, locals showed the government they really mean business.

Get Involved!

– Stay up-to-date with fracking news from DrillOrDrop.

– Read more about fracking from The Canary.

Featured image via YouTube and additional images by Yorkshire’s Fracking Frontline