Bentley blockade against frackers - cops moving in

The Bentley blockade against frackers is totally heating up. Currently police are amassing a force of about 700 police to begin breaking it up (remember this is a small farming community). The protesters are threatening to meet them with a force of 7,000 or so. All the community wants is for their land not to be fracked. How hard is that?

Large numbers of police officers are expected to try to break up a blockade site in Bentley, near Lismore, where the community is opposing gas drilling by Metgasco in NSW's Northern Rivers. It is possible police will begin to move protesters as early as May 19.

Hundreds of people are camping at the site to prevent trucks carrying drilling equipment from gaining access to the site. They warn that up to 7000 people will gather to defend the campsite from police.

Anti-gas campaigner Aiden Ricketts said: “What appears on the surface to be simply a dispute about a speculative gas explorer gaining access to a drilling site is rapidly turning into a grand experiment in the power of local democracy to resist the seemingly overwhelming combination of state and corporate power.

“Reliable intelligence now reveals that the state government is raising a force of police up to 700 strong from around the state to come to Bentley to deal with the very large outbreak of democracy that is occurring. The audacity of a government embattled by internal corruption to send such a military-type force against a united regional population is staggering.” more

And here's a song written about it, featuring scenes from the Bentley blockade: