Protesters blockade oil refinery

A number of tankers were delayed by the protest

Protesters blockaded an oil refinery in Cheshire in a bid to put pressure on the government over rising oil prices.

The organisers claim up to 500 people took part in the protest at Stanlow on Friday, the second in five weeks.

A number of tanker drivers decided not to leave the depot but a spokesman for Shell which owns the refinery, said only 20 tankers had been delayed.

Officers from Cheshire Police were at the scene but the force has not so far commented on the protest.

The Shell spokesman put the number of protesters at 60 although one of the demonstrators said the figure was nearer 500.

He said that for the first hour of the demonstration "movements of fuel were delayed".

But later the fuel had "started to flow again so there's no problem".

About 100 farmers and hauliers took part in the first demonstration outside Stanlow at the start of May.

The Stanlow plant was at the centre of many of the fuel protests that took place in 2000.

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