CUMBRIANS who oppose fracking will gather in Carlisle city centre on Sunday as part of a nationwide day of action dubbed, “No Fracking Way”.

Demonstrators will gather at the bandstand by the Guildhall Museum at 2pm. There will be a short march through the city centre, returning to the bandstand to be addressed by expert speakers. Participants are invited to wear yellow and black and bring placards bearing family-friendly messages.

MORE TOP STORIES:

More than 32 towns and cities across the UK are hosting anti-fracking demonstrations on Sunday.  The Carlisle event is being coordinated by Barrow resident, Laurie Rees, who said: "Fracking is incredibly dangerous. In the USA, in Australia and in Canada, fracking has caused earthquakes, serious - even fatal - illness in people and animals, and has poisoned ground water supplies.

"Fracking in Lancashire in 2011 has already caused earthquakes strong enough to damage the casing of the fracking well, with the potential for carcinogenic chemicals to leak into the water supply. Yet incredibly, this government is insistent in its plans to allow wide scale fracking across the UK, against all the evidence of its dangers and against huge public opposition.

“I've never organised anything like this before but this issue is so important – quite literally a matter of life and death – and I want to provide people with a means of standing together and publicly showing the government that we do not want fracking in the UK.”

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a method of extracting shale gas from the ground by injecting water and chemicals into rocks at high pressure. This creates cracks in the rocks, allowing the gas to escape and be collected. It is highly controversial and is banned in nations including France, Bulgaria and Scotland, and several US states.