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Lilias: The perfect victory would be if they declared a frack-free planet, though a frack-free Britain would be good. Frack-free West Sussex would be a really good start. East Sussex refused to consider planning applications until they knew more about the process and I don't think West Sussex were really informed enough when they let it go through.What do you think of the police operation today?
Well, they knew something was going to happen today so they were on edge. I've heard they were a bit rough removing people but they're nervous of course, bless them. When people get nervous they get a bit rash. Obviously a lot of them have come from all over, there are people from the Met, from Thames Valley, they don't know what could happen here and they're nervous.You've been here since the very beginning, why do you think so many people have joined your cause?
This is our water supply, people care about that. "Fracking" – even the word sounds nasty. Why are we putting our water supply in jeopardy for fracking? At the People's Assembly, Caroline Lucas said that something like 125 MPs have business interests in fossil fuels, so they're not interested in renewable energy because they won't make money out of it. That's the general vibe that's coming out of this and it's disgusting and people won't stand for it. It's grown since July and it'll continue to grow.
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Richard: I'm just thinking about what will be left here in 1,000 years. Homo Sapiens are the worst creatures, we've killed off the Neanderthals, we've killed off Homo Erectus and we won't stop until we've killed off everything else.Do you think the Conservatives are committing political suicide in the name of a quick buck?
I think they'll suffer come the election. Sussex is historically one of their safe seats but the residents here are already moving away from them. In the last council elections we ran a tiny campaign with very little money. We only got to canvas about 100 of several thousand voters in the area, we didn't have a chance to impose our wonderful personalities on the whole electorate, but at a basic level the amount of people who wanted to vote Green Party was 9.7 percent. That was three times more than the BNP, double Ukip and a sixth of the Conservative vote.After my chat with Richard, a police liaison officer confirmed that the day had ended with 29 arrests. Despite the efforts of those detained, Cuadrilla were expected to start drilling again in a few days. Obviously they'll win, the side with the most money always does, but I don't think the protesters are going to be calling it quits any time soon.Follow Matthew on Twitter: @MatthewFranceyMore environment:Anti-Fracking Protesters Had a Pretty Awful Time in West Sussex This WeekendActivists Are Trying to Save the World's Fish from Mafia BastardsWATCH – The Chemical Valley