Anti-fracking demonstrators protest at Chesterfield company

Twelve protesters have shut down drilling company PR Marriott in Danesmoor by blockading the entrance with banners dropped from the company's drill rig and main gate. The anti-fracking activists targeted Marriott because of their links with fracking company, Cuadrilla, and their storage of the proposed fracking rig for use in Lancashire.

The move is part of a campaign targeting companies tied to the fracking industry as part of the national 'Break the Chain' fortnight of action by the Reclaim the Power group.

Charlie Holland, one of those taking part in today's action, said: "We are here today in solidarity with anti- fracking protesters in Lancashire where Cuadrilla wants to drill 800 wells in the region alone. We’re asking Marriott to do the decent thing and step away from fracking before it devastates the region.”

The team arrived on site at 6.30am when they erected a scaffold tripod and locked themselves onto the gates, blockading the entrance to Marriott preventing traffic from leaving and entering the site. An activist also entered the site and scaled a fracking rig, dropping a banner which read “Fracking? Expect Us” and tied the equipment up with a symbolic red line. The drilling rig for use at the proposed Lancashire fracking site, Preston New Road, is expected to be delivered any day.

A spokesman for PR Marriott said they were liasing with the police and would not be making any more comments until the protest had ended.