ANTI-GM crop protesters attacked a field in Harbury this week and destroyed part of a government trial site.

The five-strong group, calling themselves "Two Peasants, a Pixie and a Pair of Marigolds," entered the field opposite Queens Close at 11.45pm on Sunday night and worked for around four hours, digging up around 200 sq metres of oilseed rape and placing it in plastic "biohazard" bags.

A police spokesman said officers were investigating the incident in which 75 sq metres of crop, valued at £100, were damaged. The field, farmed by John Moore, was one of a handful of sites in South Warwickshire being used for genetically-modified winter oilseed trials by Aventis CropScience UK.

In a statement, the group, who are all local to the Stratford area, explained why they "reluctantly" undertook the action after an earlier demonstration and public meeting failed to prevent the trial from going ahead. "As a local people, we formed an affinity group with both collective and well-reasoned personal motivation for our actions. We feel that the strength of our arguments will vindicate our action and keep the issue in the public domain," they stated. "We want to remind the government, Aventis and the farmer, who have brushed aside the strong arguments and genuine concerns of the public, bio-scientists and environmentalists, that people aren't content to see this continue and feel their only avenue to protect the environment is to take direct action themselves."

They also stressed that their major concerns were the danger of cross pollination creating genetic mutations, herbicide safety, ground water pollution, the effects on wildlife, the lack of containment, and the negative effect it could have on land value. "We got hold of some biohazard tape so we cordoned off the area. We completely cleared the area of all the oilseed. We were literally on our knees pulling them out to the roots. It was to highlight the issue to the local and national government that we don't feel the public is being listened to. And because we feel they have acted illegally, we feel we have done nothing wrong," protester Steve Smith explained as he vowed the campaign would continue as long as the trials and the use of the technology continued.

The reason for choosing a humorous name for the protest group was to highlight its belief that the government, the bio-technology company and, to some extent, local government, was not taking the GM issue seriously, he added.

A public meeting to discuss the trials was held in the village on 11th September when most of the 300 people present were "concerned and anxious," said John Hill, chairman of Harbury Parish Council. "We were first notified at the beginning of August that that this field had been selected for field scale evaluation for GM oilseed rape. It was confirmed at the end of August," he added. "I thought it was appropriate to have a public forum in the village so people could hear both sides of the case, with a panel of three experts from each side. The parish council then acted as messenger for the village to the Environment Minister, Michael Meacher. We wrote to the minister and told him of the concerns expressed at the meeting."

The field was also the centre of demonstration in August when protesters marched to it after gathering outside the home of West Midlands Conservative MEP, Philip Bushill-Matthews. Mr Moore was unavailable for comment as the Herald went to press.