Green activist arrested

A Briton was arrested today on suspicion of criminal trespass on to the BP Arctic oil site in Alaska, police said.

Martin Cotterell, 32, of Penrith, Cumbria, a Greenpeace activist for more than a decade, was arrested while waving a banner that read "Stop BP's Northstar, Save the Climate" at the Northstar offshore oil project in the Beaufort Sea, Alaska.

The father-of-two, who runs an alternative energy home installation company, was arrested with four other Greenpeace activists: Americans Stephanie Hillman, 34, and Tom Platt, 39, plus Canadians Paul Ruzycki, 36, and Phil Dunn, 39.

Two of the protesters allegedly towed a fibreglass dome on to the construction area of the man-made gravel island and locked themselves inside before being arrested, a North Slope police spokesman.

All five appear before magistrates later today to face one count of criminal trespass, while Dunn alone faces a resisting arrest charge.

BP Amoco's Northstar project is the spearhead for oil development in Alaska's Beaufort Sea.

Some environmentalists fear it could lead to increased pollution and global climate change.