This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The chemicals multinational Ineos is facing criticism for seeking to curb democratic protests against fracking in a move described by Green MP Caroline Lucas as “extremely worrying”.

On Tuesday Ineos began its latest legal move to impose a sweeping injunction against all campaigners protesting over its fracking operations.

Any campaigner may be jailed, fined or have their assets seized if they obstruct the firm’s fracking activities.

The injunction is being opposed in a court hearing by two anti-fracking campaigners, Joe Corré, the son of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, and Joe Boyd. The pair have called the injunction oppressive and draconian.

In a witness statement submitted to the high court in support of the two campaigners, Lucas said the injunction was “extremely worrying and detrimental to our democracy”.

“Peaceful protest is the lifeblood of our democracy. If the courts suppress dissent, undermining our right to protest, a hallmark of our country’s democracy, we all suffer,” she added.

The injunction covers all campaigners, as it is addressed to “persons unknown”. It prohibits them from harassing Ineos employees and contractors in any way, or interfering with their lawful activities.

Specifically, it prohibits two techniques used by campaigners: delaying deliveries to sites by walking slowly in front of vehicles, and attaching themselves to lorries and other property with locks.

Lucas said: “Reasonable obstructions of the highway, such as slow walking, and peaceful protests are legitimate tactics in the anti-fracking and other political and civic movements”. She added that this was accepted by police.

“Slow walking has become a particularly important form of protesting in the anti-fracking movements across the UK and I understand the injunction obtained by Ineos makes this unlawful,” she said.

She said that Ineos’s portrayal of anti-fracking protesters such as herself as “militant” was “inaccurate and unfair”.

Ineos, which is seeking to become a leading fracking firm, secured the temporary injunction in July after saying it faced a “real and imminent risk of being targeted by unlawful protests”.

The multinational firm, which wants to make the injunction permanent, says it was directed at prohibiting unlawful activities, not curtailing lawful protest.

Alan MacLean, its QC, told Mr Justice Morgan that Ineos respects “the fact that members of the public have a right in this free and democratic society to protest lawfully if they so wish. It is no part of Ineos’s agenda to seek to stifle the lawful exercise of such rights.”

The hearing is scheduled to last three days.

The case is important as other corporations may be encouraged to seek similar injunctions against campaigners objecting to their activities.

The fracking industry, which has low public support in polls, has attracted sustained protests. On Wednesday, 10 Greenpeace campaigners are due to appear in court in Blackpool accused of obstructing the highway in an anti-fracking protest in May.