Environmental activists have today disrupted work at a major North Sea gas installation as part of the Fossil Fools Day international day of action on climate change.

At 6.30am, around 25 activists from Earth First! UK peacefully blockaded the North Sea gas installation at Bacton on the North Norfolk Coast. The Bacton installation, operated primarily by petroleum giants Royal Dutch Shell & ExxonMobil, includes a gas-fired power station, processing plant and distribution point for domestic gas. Shell estimates that over one third of domestic UK gas comes ashore at Bacton.

The protest is also in solidarity with protestors at Rossport in Ireland, who have been trying to prevent a similar installation being built in their community.

Catherine Lewis, one of the activists at the Bacton blockade, said: “The fossil fuel industry is the single biggest driver of climate change, and gas is no exception. Switching from one fossil fuel to another is not a solution to climate change – the only real solution is to keep fossil fuels in the ground.”

Banners proclaiming "Shrink of Sink" were stretched across the road, giving the message that we need to shrink our economy and consumption to cut carbon emmissions.