M3 protestors in stand-off with workers at Hill of Tara

Protestors against the planned route of the M3 motorway in Co Meath are engaged in a standoff with workers at the Hill of Tara today.

The demonstrators claim they have been assaulted by construction workers in the Soldier's Hill area

Some of them are believed to have climbed on top of diggers in a bid to stop work going ahead and the Gardaí have been called to the scene.

The protestors have been engaged in a long-running campaign to get the motorway re-routed away from the archaeologically rich landscape around Tara.