Mayo Road Blockaded in International Solidarity Protest

mayo | environment | news report Friday August 26, 2011 18:54 by Frank - Rossport Solidarity Camp Aughoose, Pollatomish, Mayo 0851141170

From 6.00am to 9.30am Friday 26th August, three campaigners occupied Aghoos Road, as part of the ongoing protests against the controversial Shell refinery at Bellinaboy. They formed a triangle in the middle of the road using a set of especially made arm-tubes.

Early Morning arm tube lock on in solidarity with Broome community

This action follows on from yesterday, which saw the Gardai assault Dublin MEP Paul Murphy during a sit-down protest at the same part of the road. The protest stopped a number of Shell's construction vehicles reaching their destination at Aghoos. All three have been arrested and taken to Belmullet.

One of those occupying the road said, “I'm doing this in support of a similar protest that took place in Broome Community, Australia last night. This is a powerful way to show that struggles from Ogoniland in Nigeria, to the Tar Sands in Canada, Australia, to Erris, Mayo and now to Australia are linked in common cause. Once we heard about the Broome Community actions we had to show solidarity. It feels really powerful to be part of this.”

The Broome Community are opposing a gas project that parallels the situation in north-west Mayo. Like Mayo, Shell is one of the companies being resisted by local communities. Links between the two communities are being established, and award winning film “The Pipe”, which documents the Mayo situation is being shown at events in Australia.

Yesterday saw a series of events targeting the Shell refinery in Aghoos and Bellinaboy. The Rossport Solidarity Camp was visited by Paul Murphy, MEP who came to learn more about local community resistance to the project. While taking part in a peaceful sit-down protest in front of a truck he was assaulted and had his clothes torn by gardai.

Con Coughlan, from the Camp said, “The determination we are feeling is incredible; knowing that people in Australia were doing their protests while we were doing ours was inspiring for us all. We send our best wishes out to them.”

ENDS

Notes
1. For more information on the Broome Community protests see http://handsoffcountry.blogspot.com/

2. For reports of events on Thursday, 25th August, see
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/100407 and
http://www.paulmurphymep.eu/breaking-news-how-the-garda...sport