Shell Contractor Quarry Shut Down For Day
Barret’s Quarry in Bangor Erris shut down by protesters
On Wednesday 31st August at 8am 15 people entered Barrett’s quarry, just outside Bangor Erris in Co. Mayo and stopped work for the whole day, leaving at 5:30pm. Barrett’s is a subcontractor on the Corrib Gas Project, currently bringing truckloads of gravel and hardcore to Shell’s site in Aughoose.
Entering the quarry site Wednesday morning was easy, as there were only a couple security guards and there is no fencing around the site aside from the front gate. Once people were on site work was halted pretty quickly as people climbed up onto diggers and other machinery.
No attempt to remove the protesters was made, and the day was pretty calm. Folks even got up to playing werewolves and charades while on the machinery in order to pass the time.
At 5:30 after all the workers had gone home and there was no chance of them resuming their deliveries to the Shell site, all the protesters left through the front gate.
Protesters have been targeting Barrett’s lorries on the public road over the last few weeks as they were trying to make their stone deliveries to the Shell compound, by stopping them and climbing on top of them. This occupation of the quarry itself is a message to all contractors working for Shell on this project.
Nearby Lennon’s Quarry also supply material to the site and have also had many of their vehicles occupied in recent weeks. Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway said today: “Both businesses will continue to be a target of the campaign until they end all work at Shell sites.”
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Corrib protests – if Tuesday was not mad enough try today
26.8.11
MEP assaulted, work halted for six hours, campaigners drive into refinery and bounced back out again four hours later
Local Shell to Sea campaigners and their supporters at Rossport Solidarity Camp are resting after another bizarre day of lows, highs and outright idiocy during their ongoing protest against Shell in co. Mayo.
The day started unpromisingly with a 6am sortie against the compound at Aghoos seeking to exploit a couple of weak points in the fence. Shell’s contractors Roadbridge and Shevlins are racing to finish the first bit of work in constructing the fencing and new entrance way. Every moment is counting for them. This left a couple of promising gaps which people from the camp sought to exploit in their dawn raid.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. Security from IRMS were aggressive from the beginning and were dragging people across hard-core and the road. Though the main target failed, a secondary one saw two people get in. As other weak points were probed, one protester who was on the road was deliberately charged from behind, tripping them face-first onto the road. This was all photographed; a complaint to a Sergeant imported from Galway was naturally treated with disdain, the gardaí happily taking their place as part of Shell’s private security. This has already been reported to the Amnesty/Frontline human rights observer in the area and will be pursued.
People returned to camp to get a bit of rest and recuperate. Just before midday, Dublin MEP Paul Murphy (of the Socialist Party) and a number of supporters turned up. They were shown the camp and given an update as to how the campaign has been going.
While this was happening a group of people waited near the junction near Glenamoy, a key turning point for the vehicles coming between the refinery at Bellinaboy and the Aghoos compound. Most trucks and tractors along this route are escorted by gardaí, who have placed officers along this route, and whose vans regularly follow people walking it.
Despite all this attention from gardaí, quick thinking meant that one person was able to jump on top of a Barretts Quarry truck – the firm providing much of the hard-core – at around 1pm. It was a beautiful moment. Campers, locals, Paul Murphy & co all converged on the site. A good natured protest ensued, with people laughing, joking, singing, children making water balloons and the person on top of the truck giving us a rendition of “Which Side Are You On”, re-worded to take in Shell.
In the refinery a backlog of trucks and other vehicles began to build up. The public order team turned up with their cherry picker to remove the person on top of the truck. Those in the road sat down and formed two lines wrapping arms and legs around each other with the aim of stopping the cherry-picker coming in. The thugs from the public order team waded in, as ever, dragging people out, ripping clothing and using pressure points on the ear. Paul Murphy, who was involved in the line was among those assaulted in this fashion. Naturally he was livid. Word is that the story is going ‘viral’.
Not to be deterred, after the person on the truck was removed and arrested, people decamped to the front of the refinery. Numbers grew to over 50 as more locals came to support. It was fantastic to see old faces again, something that really boosted the campers. It was clear there was a buzz despite the rain that came on. There was more playing in front of the gates, and a determination to resist in the air. For those who had been at the morning protest, it was such a lift. Gardaí and security stayed clear; the line of trucks backed up inside the refinery grew longer. The person who had been arrested was charged, released and came to join the protest.
Eventually Shell caved in. They parked up the trucks and shut up shop at Aghoos at 6.30pm. Though having pushed their workers to keep to the existing timetable, the day was lost to the campaigners. Fearing that they might try and take some of the vehicles out the back gate, people drove around, driving up close to the back gate. Two of these cars driven by locals (well known to security) and containing just as recognisable people were waved through the refinery gates by security. So, we suspect, heads are going to roll. One car drove around and back out again without security actually being aware of this. The other stayed in and drove around the refinery, two fingers up to all who think they can run rough-shod over the people of Erris. Naturally, the gardaí, late to the party this time, then began stopping workers going in. It was a great turn around to a long day. Now, for another planning meeting…
For Paul Murphy’s own account:
I was just about to finish this report when we heard… two IRMS (Shell’s private security) minibuses were blocked for an hour. And the car was still in the refinery as of 8pm. So down we head again, barely finishing inner. Security had surrounded the car at the inner perimeter fence as it was trying to leave. For some very bizarre reason they would not let the car leave by the gate directly in front of it, but wanted it to go all the way to the back gate.
The occupants refused that option as they were worried they would be ambushed. A tractor was brought and attached to the back of the car by a rope. For the next hour and a half the car was bounced backwards across the site. The idiocy of the people doing this meant that the car was constantly bouncing and knocking against the back of the tractor. Once occupant phoned the gardaí for help but the person answering the 999 call laughed. It is not hard to see why the gardaí in Erris are not trusted by the people who live there.
By 9pm a crowd of locals and people from the camp had assembled outside the back gate in support. Numbers swelled to forty by 10pm when the tractor finally brought the car out – gardaí and security filled out into the road – the security clearly acting like cops again – pushing concerned friends and family away. It was a relief to see our friends safe again.
A long, exhausting day, but amazing in so many unexpected ways. Welcome to Mayo.
http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org
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Mayo Road Blockaded in International Solidarity Protest
August 26 2011
From 6.00am to 9.30am this morning, 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. 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.
From 6.00am to 9.30am this morning, 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. 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
*FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:*
Rossport Solidarity Camp 085 1141170
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
Related Link: http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org
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Daily Protests in Mayo, Numbers Building
Actions are constant, sometimes 3 or 4 in a day
Between lock-ons, mass trespasses, lorry climbing and a breach of security at Shell’s refinery, this week brought a lot of people out protesting. Locals who haven’t been out on the roads in years have come out this week, and momentum is building.
Here are some photos from Wednesday 24th August that haven’t been posted. Tuesday and Thursday were so full of events that these photos didn’t make it up. But things are happening every day, keep looking at the shelltosea.com website, twitter, and indymedia to stay posted.
Wednesday’s events began with a 6am trespass onto Shell’s compound in Aughoose. Soon after a few people went to join the locals who are at the refinery gates every morning, and 6 people sat down in the road wrapping arms and legs around each other to stop a tractor. Gardai dragged people out of the road for the tractor to pass. After this one person managed to climb on top of a truck delivering bogmats outside the refinery. The person stayed up for about 10 minutes but when a garda climbed onto the lorry and wrestled her D-lock away, preventing her from locking on, she came down and was not arrested.
Later that day Shell illegally extended their Aughoose compound into the public road, using harris fencing to reduce the road to one lane. Shell’s private security then stood in the public road, and workers yet again stopped traffic whenever a delivery was being made to the compound (which happens 3-4 times an hour and can mean 5-30 minutes of road closure). When people from the Rossport Solidarity Camp saw them putting up fencing in the road people went down to take advantage of the narrow road for the next tractor delivery. However once again Gardai and IRMS worked together to push people into ditches, contain people, and clear the road.
Honest to god direct quote from MY 31 Sergeant Richard Mahony, explaining why people must clear the road, “For your own health and safety, or we’ll throw you in the ditch.”
Apologies for the belatedly posted photos, it is not easy keeping up with media stuff when actions are happening constantly! There is plenty to do that doesn’t involve protesting as well, including tending to the three gardens, cooking the communal meals, maintaining the wind turbines, and everything else it takes to maintain the camp!
The camp is located in a field overlooking the Shell compound in Aughoose, between Bellanaboy and Pullathomas. Come for a visit anytime! Contact the camp at rossportsolidaritycamp[at]gmail[dot]com or 085 114 1170
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Mayo Road Blockaded in International Solidarity Protest
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.
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
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 above, or
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/100407 and
http://www.paulmurphymep.eu/breaking-news-how-the-gardai-assaulted-me-and-other-peaceful-protestors-in-rossport
