Dramatic scenes erupted outside a court room in Chester as anti-fracking campaigners were temporarily refused entry to support four protesters due in the dock.

Campaigners shouted from behind the security barrier at guards saying it was ‘against their human rights’ to be barred from the public hearing, and that justice needed to be ‘seen to be served’.

Around 20 protesters, some of whom are living on the Upton camp, filled the entrance to Chester Magistrates Court on Friday (December 5) after a call-out on social media brought campaigners from as far as Wrexham in a show of solidarity.

The scenes came as four protesters appeared in court charged with trespassing and blocking the entrance to the IGas Energy rig in Ellesmere Port.

Benjamin Deevoy, 30, of no fixed address, Marie Moss, 49, of Lynton Street in Manchester, Daniel Nye, 28, of Upton Community Protection Camp, and Steven Allender, 46, of Rowland Avenue in St Helens, pleaded not guilty to the offence allegedly committed on November 14.

Almost an hour before the hearing, protesters being refused entry to the courtroom shouted ‘this is illegal, you cannot do this’, while another said ‘we have a right to come in here’ as security stopped the campaigners, including a young girl, at the door while a police officer spoke to court staff.

The group were refused entry for around 20 minutes, with one protester even sitting on the floor as staff decided whether to allow them upstairs, and one protester shouted ‘how dare you’ as police told them they could attend the hearing ‘as long as everyone behaves themselves’.

The hearing was delayed as the supporters waited outside the court, before being allowed to fill the public gallery to listen to the proceedings by court officials and police.

Speaking to The Chronicle outside the courtroom John McNamara, of The Green Party, said: “We were refused entry. I think it is disgraceful. How can you see justice being done if you are not allowed to see it?”

A court official told protesters: “There isn’t any issue with you sitting in. It’s you all arriving together.”

The Chronicle called Chester Magistrates Court following the hearing but no one was available to make a comment.

The four protesters are due back in court on March 31 next year for a trial which is scheduled to last four days.