Crawberry Hill Community Protection camp evicted from the verges of Walkington Heads near Beverley today.

A peaceful protector is led away.  3 people were jumped on and seized without warning, and immediately arrested for Obstruction of the Highway.  A Highway which was closed.  To traffic and people, including all press.

The anti fracking camp has been at the site since May where Rathlin Energy UK Ltd have permission to carry out a mini-frack test.

East Riding of Yorkshire council claim the camp is dangerous, under the Highways Act, although there is nothing at all on the road itself, which is a 30mph zone.

Despite the camp being there for over 8 months the council only started to evict the camp after Rathlin Energy publicly requested it at the planning meeting in October.

After 3 arrests for Obstruction of the Highway (which was closed) protectors could only watch from a distance as their homes since May- tents, structures and caravans were dismantled and removed.  Some protectors remained inside the tower for several hours before being removed.  Placards  and banners from the local communities of Walkington, Newbald, Cherry Burton and Hull were dumped in a skip under piles of splintered wood.

It's boring work, throwing people out of their homes so a corporation can make shed loads of money while local communities suffer the impacts.

The mood was calm, despite the emotions, and the protectors remain defiant:
"We're not going anywhere whilst Rathlin Energy still have permission to carry out a mini-frack test."

Richard Howarth from Hull & East Riding Green Party said, "It is essential that the camp remains in order to monitor what this cowboy company get up to, especially after the problems at West Newton, because the inspectors simply don't have the resources.  To suggest that a small pen down the road, out of view of the site, is reasonable in a society that allows peaceful protest, is a joke. "

Jon Mager of Frack Free East Yorkshire said, "It is particularly shocking in a society with a free press that even the media were prevented from walking down the road to bear witness to what was going on."  Some people at site also found their phones could not take pictures or video, as if electronically jammed, as also happened previously at West Newton.

Remains of the kitchen.  East Riding of Yorkshire Council insist it was a removal, NOT an eviction.  The name of the company they used was Evictions UK Ltd.