An irate farmer sprayed manure on a group of Greenpeace activists, including Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson and her sister Sophie, after they violated a court injunction to oppose fracking on the farmer’s property (video below).
Emma and Sophie Thompson were shooting a spoof of “The Great British Bake Off” for Greenpeace on a farmer’s property when the enraged farmer drove his tractor up to the demonstrators. The activists allegedly sneaked onto the property and climbed over a barrier to set up camp on the fracking site.
The women were shooting a mock episode called “Frack Free Bake Off” to demonstrate to the government that they would not permit fracking to destroy their countryside and cause even more climate disaster.
When the farmer saw the demonstrators on his property, he went over with his tractor in an effort to drive them away. When he drove past the demonstrators, he started showering them with manure from the tractor’s rear end.
The demonstrators can be heard yelling at the farmer to stop in a video of the event, but he ignores their pleas and continues to circle around them.
The farmer drove away after circling the gathering several times.
The odor was fleeting, unlike the consequences of fracking in this town if Cuadrilla has its way. Kate Styles, a local cake store owner, participated in the protest.
London celebrities intruding on a Lancashire farmer’s field, stopping him from working while lecturing them on where the UK should acquire its natural gas, is beyond ludicrous, Cuadrilla CEO Francis Egan said.
Local councillors first rejected Cuadrilla’s proposal to frack on farmland, but they appealed, and the government will examine the decision to allow the application.
In a statement, a representative for the local police department recounted the situation.
They were made aware of a demonstration on property at Plupton Hall Farm in Little Plumpton this morning, a police spokesperson said. A local neighborhood patrol officer arrived and met with a protestor spokesman to determine their intentions. A police presence at the scene was not deemed essential or proportional, although resources are ready to respond again if required.
Emma Thompson addressed her participation with Greenpeace and why she opted to attend the anti-fracking rally.
She’d been aware of this issue for a while through her work with Greenpeace, and it came to a head for her when David Cameron went to the Paris Climate Conference and signed on to the protocol, then on the sly at Christmas, when no one was looking, gave the go-ahead to 200 fracking sites in Britain, Thompson explained. That demonstrated to her that their government says one thing while doing the opposite.
