Extinction Rebellion activists dress up as canaries to block mine in protest

Feather-clad campaigners from environmental movement Extinction Rebellion (XR) have begun blocking the entrance to an open cast mine in County Durham to protest expansion plans.

The three day-long planned protest, titled ‘We Are The Dead Canaries’, has four campaigners dressed as yellow canaries and sitting in makeshift cages while holding placards and chanting slogans.

There were some heated scenes when a protester attempted to duck under a barrier at the entrance to the Bradley site near Dipton, County Durham.

The protester was stopped by security guards who are patrolling the scene with dogs while other chanted “we are non-violent”.

Around 50 protesters turned up at the site before 7am, with more XR members, local residents and ex-miners expected to join them throughout the day.

Durham Police have warned of potential disruption to traffic on the A692 road between Leadgate and Dipton while the protest continues.

Superintendent Richie Allen of the Durham Constabulary said: “Given the number of protesters anticipated by the organisers, we are warning the local community to expect the possibility of some disruption on the A692 over the next few days and to leave extra time for their journeys.

“Durham Constabulary will, as always, uphold the right to peaceful protest, but we can also reassure residents that we are taking steps to ensure the demonstration causes as little inconvenience as possible.

“We have spoken to representatives of Extinction Rebellion North East to outline what we consider to be proportionate peaceful protest and have received repeated assurances from them regarding the impact of their protest on the wider community,” he added.

XR is protesting proposals by the Banks Group, which operates two coal mines in Northumberland, to expand the mine in order to extract around 90,000 tonnes of coal and 20,000 tonnes of fireclay.

Local residents have warned the expansion plans would ruin the area which serves as a habitat for red kites, badgers, bats, great crested newts, common blue butterflies, barn owls and a variety of flora.

XR said in a statement: “With both the UK Parliament and Durham County Council having declared a Climate Emergency, coal power being legally phased out by 2025, and with just five coal power stations still operating in the UK, proposals to further expand the scale of operations and of the site are totally out of step with the prevailing mindset of public opinion, as well as present economic and scientific realities.”

Jackie Scollen, a local resident and XR member, added: "Durham County Council have declared a climate emergency. Now they need to show us that they mean it.

"Our communities were destroyed by the closure of the mines, then the industry came back and decimted our land with opencast extraction. Coal is our heritage, not our future."

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