Shell To Sea Picket on the Finglas Road 27/10/07

Saturday October 27, 2007 14:43

by Johnny H - CYM

Today comrades from the Connolly Youth Movement and Shell To Sea participated in a successful picket of the Shell Station on Finglas road.

The Picket

We started the picket at 12 o’clock and began to distribute S2S leaflets to passers-by and cars entering the establishment. But the special branch had beat us to the scene with one car already parked in the petrol station which was later joined by another lot of special branch after we began our picket. Following this, a very angry manager of the petrol station came out to tell us to remove ourselves from his private property. We complied with this and carried on our picket on the public pavement but this wasn’t good enough apparently, seeing as the manager rang the gardai and a riot van of police arrived shortly after to hassle the protestors.

Encouragingly, several cars pulled away from the garage after we had told them why we were protesting and handed them a leaflet. Also cars passing on the road were very supportive with toots of the horn in solidarity with our resistance to the Shell Corporation.

We finished our picket after an hour. However as we were about to go our separate ways, the four members of the special branch left their vehicles and proceeded to hassle protestors by taking their names with the excuse that they are allowed to under the “offences against the state act.”

Today proves that the picketing of Shell stations is a good way of raising awareness with local people of what Shell and the state is up to in Rossport. Future pickets are planned of this station but you can also attend the S2S picket next Saturday at the Kilmainham Shell petrol station at 1pm.

CYM and S2S comrades