Anti-Fracking Protesters Superglue Themselves to Defra Building

A group of activists have superglued themselves to the entrance of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) building in central London as part of a day of action against fracking.

Protesters from the Reclaim the Power camp near Blackpool and the No Dash for Gas campaign group have "occupied" the Defra building, following the release last week of government report on fracking.

The group claims the report contained 63 redactions on the potential impacts of shale gas exploration on rural communities.

Elsewhere, similar anti-fracking protests are also taking place at Swansea University's Bay Campus and inside the Westminster offices of iGas, the UK's biggest shale gas company.

Lindsay Alderton, one of the campaigners who is superglued to the Defra building, said: "Why is it that 63 segments of the Defra report were blacked out from public view? What is it about the dangers of fracking that our government doesn't want us to know?

"Keeping secret the impacts of shale gas extraction on the rural communities that it's going to affect is shameful – the public has a right to know the effects upon their housing and local services.

"This morning we're here at Defra to remind them that they work for the public that pays them their wages, and that the public demands to know the facts about fracking – censoring is not an acceptable option."

The group claims sections of the report which were censored include details about the effect fracking would have on house prices in rural areas.

However, a government spokesperson said: "There is no evidence that house prices have been affected in over half a century of oil and gas exploration in the UK or evidence that this would be the case with shale.

"This government believes that shale has a positive part to play in our future energy mix, providing energy security, driving growth and creating jobs."

Defra said it would not be releasing an unedited version of the fracking report, as the campaigners have requested.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said officers were called to the scene at 7.30am and no arrests have yet been made.

Other campaigners from Reclaim the Power also shut down the Swansea Bay campus of Swansea University in protest at its research into fracking.