POLICE in North  Yorkshire sya they have arrested 22 people for public order offences at a protest in North Yorkshire.

The county's police force and the British Transport Police are working on a joint operation in response to a planned climate camp at Drax Power Station near Selby between 8 and 13 August 2024.

They have arrested 22 overnight (August 7/8) for public order offences which includes conspiracy to interfere with key national infrastructure. 

Various items which would be associated with large scale protest have also been seized.

The 22 currently remain in police custody.

From today, officers will have a highly visible presence for the duration of the camp to ensure that disruption to our communities is kept to a minimum.  

Any offences including outbreaks of disorder will be robustly dealt with.

The Silver Commander for this operation, Superintendent Ed Haywood-Noble of North Yorkshire Police said: “Policing is not anti-protest, we are anti-crime and we are here to protect the public.

"The right to peaceful protest is part of UK Democracy.

“It’s our responsibility to manage the protest in line with legal obligations. We also have a duty to ensure that people who work at Drax and members of the local community can go about their daily business as usual.

“At a time when police resources are stretched nationally it was essential that we acted both swiftly and robustly to reduce the risk of unlawful activity and disruption over the coming days.“