Protesters campaigning against opencast mining at a beauty spot blocked the site entrance branding it “a danger to human lives”.

Remnants of the Shropshire protest, centred on a makeshift camp in Huntington Lane, in the shadow of the Wrekin in Little Wenlock, were still on site today after a weekend of action. Anti-coal campaigners marched to the UK Coal mine on Saturday, carrying banners, beating drums and singing songs.

UK Coal security guards and police were on hand to meet the protesters and the demonstration passed off peacefully although some UK Coal staff were targeted with verbal abuse.

One protester, a civil engineer from London, who did not wish to be named, said: “We say this is a illegitimate mine and all the coal dug up here is a danger to human lives. What is in the ground here should stay where it is.

“UK Coal insists that the only alternative to mining coal from Huntington Lane is exporting coal to Britain from overseas, this is nonsense.

“There are plenty of alternative clean energy policies that can be followed instead of depending on coal.”

The barricade was part of a weekend “gathering” which saw people from all over the UK descending on the campsite to help raise awareness for the campaigners’ cause.

Protesters said the event also included information sharing, networking with other activists, free vegan food, nature walks and acoustic music by the camp fire.

Protesters have recently come under fire from a residents’ groups which called on them to pack up their tents and leave the area, claiming it had become a mess and the campaigners were a nuisance.

UK Coal said if protesters did not leave peacefully they would be forcibly evicted and a “national eviction team” would move in.

UK Coal spokesman Stuart Oliver said today: “People have the right to protest but the surface mines scheme has gone through a full, democratic process and we would ask the protesters not only to acknowledge that but also the feelings of many local residents who are now calling for them to leave.”

By Peter Finch