PROTESTERS have been arrested after they built and occupied two wooden towers in the middle of Habton Road in Kirby Misperton.

Police closed the road to all vehicles and pedestrians earlier after the incident began at about 3am today.

The aim of the towers was to obstruct traffic to the 'KMA' fracking site.

The occupant of one of the towers said: "It's a sad indictment of the world today that we have to go to these lengths to prevent the government from pushing fracking upon us."

The protestors said they "facilitated the safe passage of local traffic and tried to accommodate the nearby dairy farm by allowing room for the milk tanker to pass."

However, the protesters in the towers, a man and a woman, were removed by a specialist police team and have been taken into custody for questioning.

Police re-opened the road to motorists and pedestrians at 4.50pm.

Superintendent Alisdair Dey, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "The action taken by the two protesters has clearly had a disruptive impact upon the local community throughout the day.

"We are doing all we can to make sure residents and businesses can go about their daily lives safely and with minimal disruption, while facilitating people’s right to assemble and protest within the law."