Protesters blockade Sizewell

FIVE anti-nuclear power protesters blocked the entrance to Sizewell power station today.

Representatives from the People Power not Nuclear Power Coalition wearing arm tubes locked themselves on to concrete just under the barrier at the main entrance around 6.40am.

The demonstrators brought big black barrels with them daubed with 'Don't Nuke the Climate'. Other protesters are also there in support.

The group said they are demonstrating against the flawed government consultation on nuclear new build - which ends today - and the dumping of local democracy.

Sizewell is one of ten sites nominated for nuclear new build. Together with Hinkley in Somerset, it is said to be one of the two most likely sites for one of the first new nuclear reactors to be built by EDF Energy.

"In order to build new nuclear power stations, government dumped local democracy", said Mell Harrison, 38 from Geldeston and a campaigns worker for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) said.

"We are blockading Sizewell today, to show that the government will not achieve its aim to fast track nuclear power. If local democracy is dumped, then nonviolent direct action will be our answer. Any new build will be met with resistance, and this blockade today is just the beginning."

"The government and the nuclear industry present nuclear power as low carbon energy and a necessity to combat climate change; but nuclear power is dangerous, expensive and does not deliver any significant reductions in carbon emissions. It locks us into a centralised energy system, and is part of the problem of climate change, not part of the solution."

A Suffolk Police spokesman confirmed officers were called to Sizewell just before 6.55am.

Police and Sizewell's security team were keeping an eye on the protesters during the first few hours of their protest.