Anti-nuclear activists disrupt Parliamentary Select Committee

This morning in Westminster, during the Department of Energy and Climate Change Parliamentary Select Committee on the proposed nuclear and other energy National Policy Statements, two anti-nuclear activists stood and unfurled a banner in the centre of the committee room reading "Local Democracy Dumped." The banner also featured radiation symbols and drums of radioactive waste. A third activist handed out briefings on why they believe nuclear power is unacceptable and an inappropriate technology for tacking climate change. The three activists were taken away and detained inside the House of Commons, along with a forth man who was taking photographs. The four were held for over two hours for alleged breaches of the House regulations, before being released and banned from the Parliamentary estate for the rest of the day.

Representatives of energy giants EDF, E.ON and RWE npower and of the Association of Electricity Producers were giving evidence before the committee of MPs. The protesters were highlighting the lack of local democracy associated with the new fast-track planning process, which will be used to silence dissenting local voices on major infrastructure projects such as new nuclear power stations and nuclear waste dumps.

Yesterday the four protested with others outside the Nuclear New Build Conference at Charing Cross Hotel: