Protesters stop new classrooms going up with 7ft tyre mound

Protesters have built a 7ft high blockade outside a recreation ground in a last attempt to stop an academy being built.

Workmen were due to turn up at the Bridge Road site on Monday to start putting up temporary classrooms for the new Wembley Academy.

But their lorries were unable to gain access after the activists created a mound of tyres, branches, concrete and barbed wire at one entrance.

One witness said: "It was apparently where the lorries were going to come in. Some council staff came down and asked the protesters to leave but they refused."

The demonstrators, from Grass Roots Association for Social Sport, also set up tents on the site. The protest came just a week after Brent council ordered bailiffs to evict members of the Wembley Park Action Group, who had set up camp on the sports grounds in a stand against the academy.

Sam Cole, from Grass, said: "We are here to protect the playing fields as they are an affordable, accessible and inclusive public space for the people of Wembley to come to.

"We are hearing a lot about youth crime but this place is somewhere where kids can come and interact with each other through sports."

Mr Cole said the group would stay indefinitely and invited residents to come and show their support.

The council said it was taking legal advice about having the protesters evicted.