PROTESTS AROUND WORLD
Feb 4th Day of Action.
NO WAR FOR OIL!
Pickets at over 100 petrol stations in the US and UK. Occupation of the offices of Exxon Mobil in UK. Petrol station occupation in Barcelona. More...
MORE INFORMATION ON THE DAY OF ACTION AGAINST WAR FOR OIL......
ARTICLES ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN OIL AND THE WAR IN IRAQ......
February 4th was an international day of action to protest the oil economy and its role in the coming Iraq war. Thousands of citizens in both the US & UK, many who had never before participated in anti-war activities, educated their neighbors at the point where the conflict is "fueled" every day. Hundreds of gas stations in both the U.S. and the U.K. saw street theater, leafleting, pageantry, and displays of alternatively fueled vehicles.
30 PEOPLE OCCUPY THE ESSO HEADQUARTERS IN LONDON.
The protesters wrote:
Around 30 students from the London School of Economics (LSE) concerned about the war against Iraq met up at 1pm to develop strategies of how to enter the Exxon Office building. The Exxon Office Building is directly neighbouring to LSE campus. One student managed to slip into the building through a side-entrance took the lift down to the reception area and then opened the door from inside for all other students to follow.
Once inside the group took the lift up to the eleventh floor and staged a sit-in. Police arrived at the scene within 15 minutes and started to evict people about an hour after the occupation had started. At that point there were about 40 police officers present. Fellow students supported the action by displaying a huge "Boycott Esso" banner in front of the entrance chanting "Exxon, Exxon, BP, Shell - take your war and go to hell!", "No blood for oil" etc.. Shortly after the eviction police forcefully removed all students away from the entrance area, pushing people rather violently. This happened despite the fact, that this area is actually part of the LSE campus.
The group of about 50 LSE Students (30 occupants and 20 supporters) then took the Boycott Esso banner across campus and staged a protest in front of the main Exxon building on Aldwych. They were there for about one hour, until police suddenly arrested one LSE student and took her to Charing X Police station, after all attempts failed to stop the police van. About 20 poeple went down the road to Charing X to stage a 2 hour protest in front of the police station, until police agreed that the arrested student could call a friend's mobile and let her know that she was alright. She was released around 7pm the same day and will have a preliminary hearing at 10:00 am in Bow Street Magistrate Court on charges of "wilfully obstructing the highway".
PETROL STATION 'BLOCKADE': OIL/WAR ACTION AT LONDON BP PETROL STATION: TUESDAY 4 FEBRUARY.
A group of protesters from London Rising Tide gathered at a BP petrol station in Hammersmith, West London, as part of the International Day of Action involving protests at petrol stations (300 across the USA). BP petrol station 'blockade' Protesters gathered at a BP petrol station in West London as part of the International Day of Action against oil dependence and its links to war: As the banners put it 'OIL FUELS WAR' and 'NO WAR FOR OIL'
The BP station was selected for the protest as a prime example of BP's attempts at 'greenwash' - the pumps are driven by solar panels on the roof (shame about the pollutants being pumped out of them). BP were also rewarded with the company of protesters because of their involvement in the proposed Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. They are also one of many oil companies with their eyes on Iraq's oil reserves.
The protest drew many beeps of support from passing motorists (and only one or two heckles from crazy nutters bawling for WAR!). Complimentary coffees from the shop helped protesters brave the icy winds and blizzard. As the banners put it: 'OIL FUELS WAR', 'NO WAR FOR OIL' and 'END OIL DIGGING/END OIL USE'.
BARCELONA- 25 activists OCCUPY a BP petrol station. 12 people lock themselves to petrol pumps.
The action was to link personal consupmtion of oil with the slaughter in iraq and the oil spill in Galicia. "Attendents" were offering blood or oil slick to the few motorist that came into the station during the action. Soilders armed with "petrol pump guns" were on stand by to protect the peace. The backdrop to this theater was twelve people locked down with arm tubs around the pumps.
Around 20 activists from many European counties and USA held a Rising Tide solidarity action on the local BP garage, highlighting the link between big oil, the coming war. The added 'flavour' here in Barcelona, Spain was the terrible oil slick or 'chapapote' off the coast of nearby Galicia. Whilst three people blocked the BP garage with a banner showing missiles firing from petrol pumps, ten of us locked on with plastic tubes through our arms around half the pumps. Whilst others handed out leaflets to passers by in Catalonian, a couple of activists dressed as troops used the pumps as guns, whilst cars that entered the forecourt were 'cleaned' from behind by activists dressed in white overalls with nets and brooms in solidarity with the Galicians.
Others simulated blood coming from the pumps by taping plastic bottles to them, filled with watered down ketchup and squirting them around the forecourt With circus cyclists riding around the forecourt, and a large group of media including TV radio, the action was photogenic enough for a anti-war-hungry regional media. was a great success. There was no problems with the police either they came, they saw, then left, the action lasted for around an hour, thus was thought to be a great success.
OTHER LONDON ACTIONS
Hackney Stop-the-War coalition picketed the BP station on Stoke Newington High Street. Banners included an image of Bush on an oil "transfusion". In the evening Campaign against Climate Change organised leafleting outside the Exxon/Mobil offices in the Aldwych.
NEWCASTLE
Newcastle Rising Tide and assorted individuals staged two pickets as part of the Feb 4th targetoil day outside Esso petrol stations, one at 8am, one at 6pm, to catch the rushingabout hours. Messages on banners read 'oil is not worth killing for' and, less catchily, 'globalisation of the oil economy = globalisation of terror'. They emphasised how oil dependency creates insecurity and suffering in the human as well as the global environmental context.
OXFORD
Oxford Rising Tide picketed a BP and an Esso petrol station during lunch time. The leaflet included the line: "Just ask yourself: would we declare war on Iraq if its main export was broccoli?"
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