Police harass Drax activists in national operation

The police attempted to intimidate a panel discussion about the impacts of a Drax biomass power station and its joint proposal for a data centre with the University.

On 29 April 2026, Dr Krystal Martin, her elderly mother Jane Martin, Katherine Egland and Michél Legendre, travelled to York from Mississippi to speak to staff and students about Drax.

Dr Martin, her mother, and Egland were in the UK for Drax’s AGM on 30 April. Drax sources millions of tonnes of wood pellets from the US every year, burning them in its UK power station. The factories in the US South making these wood pellets are polluting communities’ air and causing devastating health impacts.

As part of their visit they had an invitation to speak to staff and students at the University. When the panel event took place the speakers were shocked to find police stationed outside the building. Specialist forces with armoured vans had been dispatched from Merseyside to police the event, despite University security asking them not to attend. The police eventually left after campus security insisted.

Police acting like a private security force for Drax

After the panel the Merseyside police van followed a local campaigner. Officers stopped her close to her home as she walked to the train station. They questioned her about where she was going and whether she intended to attend a candlelit ‘vigil for trees’ that night. Subsequently Merseyside police attended this vigil and almost outnumbered the participants.

This came after North Yorkshire police crossed county lines to visit, raid and arrest multiple people, including people entirely unrelated to the campaign, the previous week in Leeds to question them about the Drax AGM.

Merry Dickinson of Stop Burning Trees said:

We are once again seeing the police act as private security for Drax. The police presence was clearly designed to intimidate anyone attending the panel.

This only demonstrates how much Drax desperately wants to hide the truth and to silence powerful voices shining light on the devastation Drax is wreaking on Black communities and forests.

Egland, of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (the largest civil rights organisation in the USA), said:

We come to the UK every year armed with the truth. Our mouths are our weapons. Imagine a foreign company coming into your home, poisoning your air, and when you travelled across the Atlantic to confront them and speak this truth to people in this country police are sent to intimidate those listening to that very same truth.

Legendre, campaigns director at Dogwood Alliance, said:

This week, Drax has showcased at every turn what they truly fear: the truth and accountability coming from those they’d rather silence and ignore, to continue polluting with impunity.

The voices of frontline communities hold power that Drax is terrified of. They expose the dirty truth of Drax’s operations. Regardless of Drax’s dirty tricks, the voices of these communities will not be silenced.

Fairweather, of Extinction Rebellion York, said:

On 29 April we held a quiet candle-lit vigil at the steps of Clifford’s Tower to mourn the loss of biodiversity and community health resulting from Drax’s global tree-burning operation. Eight activists gathered to share words and silence. In the background, the same number of Merseyside police officers watched on uselessly, presumably expecting some kind of disruption.

The fact that officers were pulled from half-way across the country to impose on local, gentle activism is, on the one hand, laughable. But, on the other hand, it’s a reminder that law enforcement exists to serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful. Anyone who wants to exercise their freedom of expression should be ready for such interactions with the police.

Featured image via Stop Burning Trees