Shell petrol station blockaded in Edinburgh

national | environment | news report Sunday November 12, 2006 19:59 by Garry - Rising Tide Scotland shelltosea at gmail dot com

25 Scottish and Irish activists shut down a Shell petrol station in Edinburgh in solidarity with Irish and Nigerian fenceline communities.

11 years ago 9 activists were killed by the Nigerian state for protesting against the Shell Oil and Gas developments in the Niger Delta. Human rights abuses and environmental destruction are still being perpetrated by Shell in their persuit of profit all around the world. In County Mayo, Ireland, Shell are threatening the lives of the community of Rossport with the construction of their dangerous high pressure gas pipeline. Yesterday activists from Scotland joined friends who came over from Ireland to shut down a Shell petrol station in Edinburgh to show our disgust at this companies behaviour and to show solidarity with the people of Ireland and Nigeria.

When around 25 of us arrived at 12 noon, the station was being filled up by a petrol tanker so the forecourt was already briefly closed. We allowed the tanker to leave then blockaded the entrance and exit of the petrol station and 2 people climbed onto the roof. We blockaded the road with large wooden crosses with the names of the Nigerians who lost their lives. We also had banners saying “Shell get out of Rossport” and “Shell climate criminals”. A nearby billboard had “Shell kills” and “Support Rossport” sprayed onto it. After a good half hour of fun the police arrived. Unsure what to do they called back up. However because of the Football and Rugby there was a shortage of police. They called out 4 units but could only pull 10 police. Their threats of arrest where then visibly weak as they didn't have the capacity to arrest all 25 of us. Having an action at the same time as other large policed events exploits their capacity weaknesses. They threatened to arrest us with a breach of the highways act (because a petrol station is technically a highway). They then tried the classic argument that if we have the right to protest then how dare we stop these people from exercising their fundamental human right to buy petrol. The police didn't know how to respond when asked about the rights of the fence-line communities which shell “legally” threatens . After a couple of hours of lively music and carnival we dispersed before they had a chance to take our details or film us with their cameras.

We succeeded in; stopping the profiteering of a Shell petrol station for an afternoon, handed out information to bemused on-lookers, showed solidarity with the people of Rossport and the Niger Delta and worked to tarnish the image of this awful company. We also succeeded in wasting the time of 10 police who could have been getting paid for watching the football. This was an easy to organise and pretty effective action, there was no property destruction and there were no arrests. Closing down petrol stations is very easy and can send a strong message that people are resisting the operations of these companies and the destructive use of their products.

www.shelltosea.com

www.risingtide.org.uk