Occupation of Shell’s proposed refinery site at Bellanaboy & 14 Sept day of action

On Mon­day 27th August 20 peo­ple occu­pied Shel­l’s pro­posed refin­ery site at Bel­lan­aboy, Coun­ty Mayo

After sev­er­al weeks of hol­i­day, work has recom­menced at the pro­posed refin­ery site at Bel­lan­aboy. Main­tain­ing the increased pres­sure that had been applied to Shell in the weeks before the hol­i­day peri­od, at around 8.30am this morn­ing around 20 peo­ple occu­pied the site. The pro­tes­tors bypassed secu­ri­ty and walked in through the main gate onto the site beside a lor­ry that was enter­ing. The group made their way to the main area where work was tak­ing place. Short­ly after their arrival all work on the site stopped. The pro­tes­tors took the site occu­pa­tion as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to inves­ti­gate claims that con­crete and steel that had been used in the ear­ly stages of con­struc­tion was sub­stan­dard. Upon ques­tion­ing (on cam­era) a senior work­er admit­ted that there were prob­lems with the qual­i­ty of mate­ri­als used in the foun­da­tions. Aside from prob­lems with a few over offi­cious secu­ri­ty and more senior work­ers, inter­ac­tion with peo­ple work­ing on site was ami­able and pro­vid­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty for infor­ma­tion shar­ing. After about half an hour three Gar­dai arrived. Their pres­ence was of lit­tle con­se­quence until work on site recom­menced at around 11.30. At this point, when some peo­ple attempt­ed to block trucks from mov­ing, the Gar­dai assault­ed a female pro­tes­tor, result­ing in cuts on her hands. They also attempt­ed to bun­dle anoth­er pro­tes­tor into a Gar­da car even though he had not been arrest­ed. At around 11.45 the pro­tes­tors made a tac­ti­cal deci­sion to leave the site en masse. They joined 20 oth­ers who were wait­ing out­side. A short while lat­er, when a new truck attempt­ed to enter site, the pro­tes­tors stopped its entry. The site was block­ad­ed until the Gar­daí returned half an hour lat­er. The day was wide­ly viewed as a suc­cess.

On Mon­day 27th August 20 peo­ple occu­pied Shel­l’s pro­posed refin­ery site at Bel­lan­aboy, Coun­ty Mayo

After sev­er­al weeks of hol­i­day, work has recom­menced at the pro­posed refin­ery site at Bel­lan­aboy. Main­tain­ing the increased pres­sure that had been applied to Shell in the weeks before the hol­i­day peri­od, at around 8.30am this morn­ing around 20 peo­ple occu­pied the site. The pro­tes­tors bypassed secu­ri­ty and walked in through the main gate onto the site beside a lor­ry that was enter­ing. The group made their way to the main area where work was tak­ing place. Short­ly after their arrival all work on the site stopped. The pro­tes­tors took the site occu­pa­tion as an oppor­tu­ni­ty to inves­ti­gate claims that con­crete and steel that had been used in the ear­ly stages of con­struc­tion was sub­stan­dard. Upon ques­tion­ing (on cam­era) a senior work­er admit­ted that there were prob­lems with the qual­i­ty of mate­ri­als used in the foun­da­tions. Aside from prob­lems with a few over offi­cious secu­ri­ty and more senior work­ers, inter­ac­tion with peo­ple work­ing on site was ami­able and pro­vid­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty for infor­ma­tion shar­ing. After about half an hour three Gar­dai arrived. Their pres­ence was of lit­tle con­se­quence until work on site recom­menced at around 11.30. At this point, when some peo­ple attempt­ed to block trucks from mov­ing, the Gar­dai assault­ed a female pro­tes­tor, result­ing in cuts on her hands. They also attempt­ed to bun­dle anoth­er pro­tes­tor into a Gar­da car even though he had not been arrest­ed. At around 11.45 the pro­tes­tors made a tac­ti­cal deci­sion to leave the site en masse. They joined 20 oth­ers who were wait­ing out­side. A short while lat­er, when a new truck attempt­ed to enter site, the pro­tes­tors stopped its entry. The site was block­ad­ed until the Gar­daí returned half an hour lat­er. The day was wide­ly viewed as a suc­cess.
Resis­tance con­tin­ues at Bel­lan­aboy!

Join the nation­al day of action on the 14th Sep­tem­ber

A nation­al mobil­i­sa­tion for a mass sit­down protest at the refin­ery at Bel­lan­aboy on the morn­ing of Fri­day 14 Sep­tem­ber.

Mass action, sit down block­ade: Sep­tem­ber 14th. Acco­mo­da­tion can be pro­vid­ed. Call 0851141170. If you can’t make it to Mayo, sol­i­dar­i­ty actions are also being called for…