Didcot Power Station Occupied by Fossil Fuel Protesters

It seems that, just recently, fossil fuel protesters occupied the Didcot power station. This forced the company to switch its electricity generation from coal power to gas power as a safety precaution.

The protesters that showed up at the Didcot power station, who ranged in age from 19 to 50 and were part of a no named group, said that they planned to occupy the Oxforshire station for up to a week. They also noted that they could escalate their action by occupying the inside of one of the flues as well.

Nine of the protesters were still 200 meters up in one of the chimneys just the other night after entering the power station grounds before dawn. The police were able to remove 13 of the protesters that had locked themselves in a coal conveyor belt.

Npower, in a statement, said that it is expected that the remaining protesters in the chimney area may have to remain their overnight until it is safe for them to be brought down. One of the protesters, Amy Johnson, said that they had barricaded themselves into a round room, through which the four flues run. She said that there is no way in which they can be reached, they are in control of the power plant and they are not going to be moving any time soon.

A spokesperson for RWE-npower, the German coal company which actually runs the power station, said that the ability to generate electricity has not been affected. He said that the company is running on gas right now, but they could switch back to coal at any time. The spokesperson said that they do have alternative ways of getting coal to the boilers besides the conveyor belts. After all, it’s not as if these belts have never broken down before.