Shell to Sea Solidarity in Scotland

international | anti-capitalism | news report Monday November 27, 2006 15:20 by Orla - Shell to Sea

Edinburgh anti-Shell protest, 11th November 2006

Dalry Road Shell Station shut down by Scottish and Irish anti-shell activists

Showing the names of those who were killed in Nigeria

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 Rossport 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 11 years ago. 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 matches on at the same time 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 (trumpets and drums!) and carnival we dispersed before they had a chance to take our details but they did manage to 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 and workers in the shop in the station, 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.

relaxing on the roof

tanker leaving the station

empty station