Eco-warriors' invasion halts incinerator work

Environmental activists invaded and halted construction of a controversial incinerator yesterday.

More than 100 eco-warriors, including Greenpeace campaigners, stormed the site. They climbed a crane, chained themselves to machinery and staging a protest on the roof of one building. One team of climbers set up camp in helicopter cargo nets suspended from the framework of the unfinished building.

The activists from the Global Anti-Incineration Alliance fear that the site, due to open in October in an agricultural area outside the Hampshire village of Chineham, will emit large quantities of carcinogenic dioxin chemicals, which could get into the food chain.

A Greenpeace campaigner, Mark Strutt, said: "People from across the country have come here to say 'enough is enough'. We don't want more incineration to poison our food with cancer-causing chemicals."

Yesterday Hampshire Waste Services, which is building the incinerator in partnership with local councils, said work had been suspended to ensure the protesters' safety. A spokesman said: "The Chineham energy recovery incinerator is an urgently needed facility. It utilises the very latest technology and will achieve the highest standards required across both the UK and Europe."