Yesterday, three people from Bristol Rising Tide were on trial for a second day at Preston Magistrates Court following their action (1) which shut down Cuadrilla Resources' hydraulic fracturing (2) site beside the Ribble Estuary in Lancashire in December 2011.
Two of the defendants went free when it became clear that the charges against them had been poorly framed. They had been charged with aggravated trespass.
Today, three environmental activists were in court at Preston Magistrates Court following their action (1) which shut down a Cuadrilla Resources fracking (2) site beside the Ribble Estuary in Lancashire in December 2011.
The prosecution needs to demonstrate that Cuadrilla were operating lawfully and the prosecution lawyers were scrabbling to find an expert witness to support this position. Last minute phone calls by the prosecution team delayed the commencement of the trial.
The safety of fracking will be challenged at Preston Magistrates Court today, as 3 people go on trial following a protest at Cuadrilla’s Hesketh Bank site, Lancashire, in December last year. (1) The trial is expected to last until Thursday.
On 1 December 2011, protestors from Bristol Rising Tide occupied the test drilling rig, shutting it down for 13 hours. (2) (3)
On the 2nd November 2011 the Cuadrilla Resources test drilling site at Banks in Lancashire was occupied by five protesters from Frack Off in an attempt to stop the spread of this destructive method of energy extraction to the British Isles. Subsequently, three of the protesters were charged with aggravated trespass.
PRESS RELEASE
Shell will appear in the High Court in London today to be held accountable for its oil spills in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Over 11,000 Nigerians from Bodo town in the Ogoni region of the Delta are suing Shell over the environmental damage caused by two devastating oil spills in 2008 and 2009. Shell has admitted liability but refuses to provide adequate compensation to the many thousands of victims of the spills. The court hearing will deal with matters of civil procedure.
At today's Shell AGM link at the Barbican the suits on the Shell board were given a 3 hour grilling, with questioners focussing attention on its environmental and human rights crimes around the world. Spread throughout the auditorium, hooded London Rising Tide & friends' grim Shell reapers stood silently awaiting direction from the board toward their next appointment with Shell induced death and environmental destruction.
By sponsoring our cultural institutions, Shell tries to protect its reputation, distract our attention from its environmental and human rights crimes around the world and buy our acceptance. When we challenge this, we strike a blow at Shell’s brand, chip away at its power and move towards the day when Big Oil – like Big Tobacco – is no longer seen as socially acceptable. As we once kicked the tobacco companies out of our cultural institutions we must now do the same to the oil industry.
Taking place WORLDWIDE on Tuesday 22nd May 2012
#OccupyOil the Sequel: The road to SHELL is paved with bad intentions...
BLOODY MONEY: Tar Sands, Rossport, Niger Delta
On the 8th of Feb this year Occupy Oil held it first day of mass action.
Shell Stations across the UK and indeed further afield were blockaded or picketed. We are back and on the 22nd of May 2012 we are holding Occupy Oil the Sequel, Royal Dutch Shell will be holding their AGM in The Hague with an audio-visual link to a satellite meeting place in London.
BP under fire at 2012 AGM
London Rising Tide recently helped out their friends from the UK Tar Sands Network at the BP AGM...
Gulf Coast residents cut short by Chair, and environmental questions brushed aside before meeting disrupted by “die-in” protest. BP’s Annual General Meeting was once again an uncomfortable experience for the Board. They were confronted by questions on oil spills, tar sands, Olympic sponsorship and interplanetary escape pods, before nine people “died” in protest at the company’s contribution to climate change and human rights abuses, and were removed bodily from the room by security guards.
Friday 18th May 2012, Toynbee Hall, 7.30pm
UK Tar Sands Network, Indigenous Environmental Network, Rising Tide UK, Platform, FairPensions, Greenpeace and Art Not Oil present:
Get the Shell out!
