Eco-warrior Swampy arrested as his HS2 protest in Denham ends
Video from HS2 Rebellion
Eco-warrior Swampy has been arrested after being removed from his bamboo protest tower in the River Colne in Denham.
Swampy, real name Daniel Hooper, was protesting against high speed rail project HS2 as engineers prepared to build railway tunnels beneath the Chilterns.
The 47-year-old was taken away from the 30ft tower by officials in a cherry picker in Denham Country Park.
He was trying to protect trees by preventing HS2 contractors building a temporary bridge at the site.
Swampy said HS2 was “causing devastation throughout the land”, adding: “We are living in times of climate emergency and we will not stand for it.”
HS2 says it is delivering "miles of ecological and landscape investments alongside construction."
On Monday the HS2 project took a big step closer as engineers began assembling two giant drilling machines.
The 2,000-tonne boring machines will spend 3.5 years excavating 2.7m cubic metres of flint and chalk.
The two parallel tunnels will form part of the £106bn HS2 railway line from London to Birmingham and Manchester.
The German-built tunnelling machines named Florence and Cecille are being put together from hundreds of parts on a site next to the M25 in Buckinghamshire.
Engineers likened it to a giant Meccano set.
HS2's 2,000-tonne 'giant Meccano set' taking shape to bore tunnels under the Chilterns