01-01-07: Save Iceland banner drop, London, UK
Oscar Beard | 02.01.2007 18:18 | Climate Chaos | Ecology | Social Struggles | London | World
Supporters from saveiceland.org arrived on the Millennium Bridge at some time after 10am and attempted to drop banners from the Tate Modern Gallery, from the roof of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge.
Iceland is facing massive ecological destruction from certain companies.
Alcoa and Alcan run aluminium smelting plants that are polluting the environment. Bechtel and Impregilio are building hydroelectric damns and flooding valleys, in order to power the smelting plants. All this for tin cans.
The same is happening to Trinidad, hence why the banners of the supporters called attention to both countries.
The day was pretty doomed from the start. The photo and video journalists bumped into each other in St Paul’s Underground station on the escalator and it took some time for eyes to focus and facial recognition switch on in the brain. Ten seconds of blank stares.
Both looked like what they were - grim, sleep-depraved, and just downright depraved. The New Year revelling had only finished some two hours earlier and both were ready to vomit into a policeman’s helmet.
The weather blew strong and searingly cold. And that was on the ground, let alone staggering around on balconies and rooftops.
The first team of activists got into the Tate Modern Gallery, unravelled the banner and were caught immediately by a security guard. They were ejected and some time later returned, I am told, managing to drop the banner from another balcony for about ten seconds before they were removed again.
But the hardest time was for the two men who climbed onto the roof of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Not only was the wind cold, but at that height, it was strong enough to whip them from the edges of the building.
They struggled for over an hour trying to get the long banner straight for all to see, but Mother Nature was having none of it and kept twisting the long sheet into a knotted mess which got caught on snags along the wall.
After several attempts they finally gave up and a banner was finally dropped from the centre of the Millennium Bridge.
No one was arrested. In fact no police, despite police vans and beat officers patrolling the area, no one spotted them. All left unscathed, apart from frozen parts of bodies, ready for attack another day, somewhere else.
Alcoa and Alcan run aluminium smelting plants that are polluting the environment. Bechtel and Impregilio are building hydroelectric damns and flooding valleys, in order to power the smelting plants. All this for tin cans.
The same is happening to Trinidad, hence why the banners of the supporters called attention to both countries.
The day was pretty doomed from the start. The photo and video journalists bumped into each other in St Paul’s Underground station on the escalator and it took some time for eyes to focus and facial recognition switch on in the brain. Ten seconds of blank stares.
Both looked like what they were - grim, sleep-depraved, and just downright depraved. The New Year revelling had only finished some two hours earlier and both were ready to vomit into a policeman’s helmet.
The weather blew strong and searingly cold. And that was on the ground, let alone staggering around on balconies and rooftops.
The first team of activists got into the Tate Modern Gallery, unravelled the banner and were caught immediately by a security guard. They were ejected and some time later returned, I am told, managing to drop the banner from another balcony for about ten seconds before they were removed again.
But the hardest time was for the two men who climbed onto the roof of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Not only was the wind cold, but at that height, it was strong enough to whip them from the edges of the building.
They struggled for over an hour trying to get the long banner straight for all to see, but Mother Nature was having none of it and kept twisting the long sheet into a knotted mess which got caught on snags along the wall.
After several attempts they finally gave up and a banner was finally dropped from the centre of the Millennium Bridge.
No one was arrested. In fact no police, despite police vans and beat officers patrolling the area, no one spotted them. All left unscathed, apart from frozen parts of bodies, ready for attack another day, somewhere else.
Oscar Beard
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