THE arrest of six women who staged a sitdown protest outside a mass foot-and-mouth burial site was replayed before magistrates yesterday.

A police video showed officers moving in to lead off the women after they refused to move away from the entrance to allow trucks with carcasses through.

The heated confrontation was the culmination of a campaign by residents concerned about the use of the Inkerman site, near Tow Law, County Durham.

Fiona Lees, prosecuting, said the women had been under the illusion that they were on public land.

But, she added, they were in fact on common land which the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) had bought a month earlier.

And they had been warned they faced arrest for aggravated trespass if they did not move.

The 40-minute video also showed police removing John Rowley, who had tried to crawl under one of the lorries.

Ms Lees said his two daughters had been arrested after trying to free their father, who was being taken away "for his own safety".

Defra site manager Dr Jo Guillespie described the "downright hostility" which had greeted her at a public meeting she had attended, to reassure concerned residents.

She said the site had been prepared with the Environment Agency, above and beyond the legal requirements, and that there was no health threat to groundwater or the environment.

Tow Law residents Fiona Nichol, 48, of Helme Park Terrace, Norma Dellavolta, 57, of Coronation Avenue, Christine Suddes, 38, of Railway Street, and Lisa Rowley, 22, of Weardale Crescent and Katrina Rowley, 25, of Crook, and Emma Nichol, 26, of Cheltenham, deny a charge of failing to leave land as directed. Lisa and Katrina Rowley deny a further charge of obstruction, while Katrina Rowley denies assault.

The trial continues before Consett magistrates.