Campaigners at Barton Moss in Salford tell researchers they were groped and threatened by Greater Manchester officers

Police at the Barton Moss anti-fracking camp near Manchester used “sexualised violence” to target female protesters, it is alleged.

Protesters told academics from York and Liverpool John Moores universities that officers groped and pressed their groins up against women as they cleared demonstrations against test drilling at the site.

They are now calling for a public inquiry to investigate the relationship between police and the fracking firm IGas, the proportionality of police tactics and the use of bail to restrict the right to protest.

From November 2013 to April 2014, the camp at Barton Moss campaigned to raise awareness of the environmental dangers of fracking in the area. Protests included “slow walking” in front of vehicles accessing the site, non-violent direct action, and rallies, music events and family days.

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The academics, who live locally, decided to attend the protests and interview those taking part after an apparent mismatch between the way police were characterising the protests to the media and reports from local people that they were peaceful.

Dr William Jackson, a criminologist at John Moores, said allegations of sexual impropriety by police was one of the first things protesters reported. “We conducted a series of interviews with both male and female protesters and one of the things which came out was what was referred to by a number of women as inappropriate behaviour towards women,” he said. According to protesters, this ranged from sexist language and harassment through to physical and sexual threats.

The report quotes one protester as saying: “A lot of the time it is women on the front line, but not only that we’ve noticed officers specifically targeting women for violence, they’ve inappropriately touched them, groped them. I’ve been inappropriately touched.

“Every single woman on the front line has had some kind of inappropriate physical contact with an officer… sometimes their hand will just go up way too high. Somebody had their breast groped.”

Co-author Dr Joanna Gilmore, of York university, added: “Undoubtedly when women spoke to us about the way that they felt, there was a common message that this was something which felt extremely violating. They felt that they had experienced the type of close contact that would be uncomfortable for them in any other situation.”

Jackson stressed that allegations came from the protesters, and that neither he nor his co-authors saw such behaviour.

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Another issue raised by the report was the use of police bail. Gilmour said the research found protesters were arrested en masse, often for minor offences, then handed bail conditions restricting them from the protest camp site. “It seems what is happening here, and elsewhere, is that bail powers are being abused to create this protest exclusion zone which would have no basis in law,” she added.

Simon Pook, a solicitor specialising in human rights at Robert Lizar, said he welcomed the report’s findings and added: “I endorse the call for a full public inquiry into the method and style of policing at Barton Moss”.

A GMP spokesperson said: “We have just been made aware today of this report and its contents.

“It would appear on first reading that this report gives one version of events of what was a very long and complex policing operation.



“However, we will take time to read this report in full and consider the points raised.”