Police arrest two demonstrators, including Natalie Hynde, the daughter of the Kinks' Ray Davies and the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde, who superglued their hands together during anti-fracking protests at a drill site in Balcombe. Miss Hynde, the daughter of Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde and Ray Davies of the Kinks, superglued herself to boyfriend Simon Medhurst in order to form a "human lock" around a gate. The pair were attempting to stop lorries from the energy company Cuadrilla entering a site in Balcombe to start exploratory drilling for oil. The small village in West Sussex has become the centre of protests as activists believe the drilling will lead to the controversial process of fracking. Miss Hynde and Mr Medhurst glued their hands to each other around the gate early on Wednesday, delaying trucks from entering the site for two hours. It is believed the police used solvent to separate the pair before carrying out the arrests. A spokesman for Sussex Police: "A man and woman were arrested under Section 241 of the Trade Union Labour Relations Act for attempting to stop drivers and other workers from accessing the site after they locked themselves on to the site gates on Wednesday morning. They are currently in custody." Miss Hynde, 28, and her boyfriend, veteran eco-warrior Simon 'Sitting Bull' Medhurst, 55, who live in Hastings, are on bail facing charges related to another campaign earlier this year against the link road between Bexhill-on-Sea and Hastings. The pair have reportedly said they are willing to go to prison for their protests against fracking and the link road. Miss Hynde claims her parents support her actions. There have now been 25 arrests in Balcombe since the protests started last week. Yesterday children handed flowers to police and protesters lay down in the road to try and stop lorries. However, lorries continued to enter the site. Francis Egan, Chief Executive of Cuadrilla, insisted the exploratory well would not pose a threat to the village of Balcombe. He said the process would take about a couple of months and involve a six-inch hole in the ground, which he described as "not a major engineering activity". "We've no intention of ruining the countryside and we won't ruin the countryside." At this stage Cuadrilla are only looking for oil. They may apply for further permission to drill or carry out hydraulic fracturing (fracking), where water is blasted into rocks underground to force out oil and gas, at a later stage. Katy Dunne, from Balcombe, said the protests are set to get larger. She said activists are planning to come down from the north of the country in protest at the comments of Lord Howell, who said fracking should happen in the "desolate" North East. It is generally thought that the peer, who is George Osborne's father-in-law, meant the North West, the other part of the country apart from around Balcome that is thought to have rich oil and gas reserves. The Government has issued 176 licences to energy companies to explore for oil and gas onshore. Miss Dunne said local people are against fracking wherever it happens - not just the commuter belt - because of the long term risks to wildlife and the water table. "This is not a nimby thing this is not just about Balcombe this is the thin end of wedge about shale gas, coal bed methane and unconventional gas and oil. Around 63 per cent of England is under consideration for drilling. "We have people coming down from across the country. "A lot of people are committed to fighting this wherever it happens for as long as it happens." Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/10213971/Chrissie-Hyndes-daughter-superglues-herself-to-protester-at-Balcombe-fracking-demo.html Get the latest headlines http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Subscribe to The Telegraph http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=telegraphtv Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/telegraph.co.uk Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/telegraph Follow us on Google+ https://plus.google.com/102891355072777008500/ Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.

• published: 02 Aug 2013
• views: 3232