greenpeace do an office occupation
msnbc | 10.04.2002 09:22
Greenpeace protestors invade UK gvt building
LONDON, April 10 — Activists from the environmental campaign group Greenpeace invaded and occupied a government building on Wednesday in protest at plans to use wood from African rainforests for replacement doors.
''There is a building that is under invasion. It is currently being occupied,'' a spokesman for the government's Cabinet Office told Reuters.
He said the building, at number 22 Whitehall in central London, was not currently used by government staff since it was under renovation.
Greenpeace said around 40 of its campaigners had entered the office at around 8.0 a.m. (0700 GMT) and declared it ''an ancient forest crime scene.''
As part of the building's renovation, the government wanted to install hundreds of new doors and windows made from Africa's last rainforest, the pressure group said in a statement.
A Greenpeace spokeswoman at the scene told Reuters police had made some arrests but she could not say how many.
msnbc
Comments
Hide the following 2 comments
linx
10.04.2002 09:56
greenpeace article:
gnome
And they all got nicked
11.04.2002 09:04
(Filed: 10/04/2002)
A protest which saw Greenpeace campaigners invade Government buildings in a hunt for illegal rainforest wood today ended with 37 arrests today.
The protesters scaled scaffolding outside the Cabinet Office building, draped it in massive banners and searched the Whitehall offices for doors and windows made from rainforest wood.
Police arrested 37 people on suspicion of conspiracy to commit criminal damage and an investigation was launched into Greenpeace's claims that wood being used in a £22.6 million refurbishment at the offices had come from rainforests.
Around 40 protesters declared the Government building, which will be used by the Cabinet Office once the renovations are complete, an "ancient forest crime scene" and seized doors, which they then displayed from the roof.
Whitehall was closed to traffic for almost four hours because of the protest, which caused massive traffic disruption in central London.
Campaigner John Sauven said: "Nearly two years ago Tony Blair pledged to source all Government timber from `legal and sustainable' sources.
"Today's expose shows he's totally failed to turn his words into action.
"Trashing African rain forests for the Government's doors and windows threatens gorillas and chimps with extinction.
"Blair must act now to make good his promises to stop buying ancient forest destruction and only use wood from environmentally friendly sources."
Campaigners claimed most of the wood was from the Forest of the Great Apes, which once stretched across Africa from Senegal to Uganda, but has been decimated.
Greenpeace said the forest had shrunk by 85% and that the remainder was under threat from illegal logging.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: "Our contract stipulates very clearly that any hardwood timber used should be obtained from certified sustainable sources in line with Government policy.
"All the documentation received from the contractor to date suggests that this requirement is being met.
"Balfour Beatty (the contractor for the refurbishment work) have informed us that they are investigating the claims made by Greenpeace and we will take a keen interest in the outcome of this investigation."
The 37 people arrested were taken to Charing Cross police station.
telegraph article