Greenpeace protesters disrupt UK PM Truss's Conservative conference speech

Protesters from Greenpeace briefly disrupted a speech by British Prime Minister Liz Truss at a conference of the governing Conservative Party on Wednesday, holding up a sign and shouting slogans before they were removed by security.

Two protesters among the audience at the conference in Birmingham stood up and displayed a bright yellow flag with the words "Who Voted For This?" and Greenpeace's logo on it as Truss was speaking on stage.

Truss paused her speech as the protesters shouted slogans including: "Who voted for fracking?"

Security personnel then took their flag and the pair were led away amid boos from the audience. The disruption lasted about one minute.

Truss laughed, and resumed: "Later on in my speech, my friends, I am going to talk about the anti-growth coalition. But I think they arrived at the hall a bit too early."

Greenpeace confirmed on Twitter its activists had interrupted the speech "to denounce the prime minister 'shredding' her party’s 2019 manifesto promises".

"The PM is U-turning on fracking, strong climate action, and world-leading environmental protections," the group said.

Truss's government last month lifted a moratorium on fracking in England that had been in place since 2019, saying strengthening energy supply was an "absolute priority".

Many communities and lawmakers and environmental groups strongly oppose fracking.

Truss has said fracking would only be allowed to take place where it has local community support.

(Reuters)