On the Ground Ireland: Day four, the Monday picket, video and report
Oscar Beard | 19.02.2007 21:54 | Rossport Solidarity | Ecology | Social Struggles | World
Fears on early Monday morning. Rats. Big ones. Perhaps Bertie Ahern and his corporate buddies had stormed the camp, attempted to make a profit nest under the communal bender and, as usual, couldn’t agree on anything and began squabbling, squawking and squeaking, clawing out each others eyeballs.
The early morning picket saw people gathering again outside the main gates of the construction site again, this time at 7.30am.
The Garda were out in early, two vans, several patrol cars and an unmarked blue car full of grinning senior officers, who drove up and down the road all morning.
30 to 40 protestors picketed the trucks, cars and buses bringing in the workers. But the Shell contracted workforce was now minus five, according to local people. Five more workers quit after the Friday morning protest.
The picket lasted several hours, including a tea-break at the Shell-to-Sea information hut. Then the “musicians” decided to give the workers a little scare, and send the message the protest to this pipeline and gas terminal was not going away. They ran to the front gate and fence and used sticks to hammer out as much noise as they could muster until the only remaining police van drove up out front. The musical protestors retreated back to the information centre and then took up perch opposite the main entrance again and hammered out beats on drums and barrels.
For now, there seems no real retaliation from the Garda. There was a little pointless shoving of several of the known local members, but it amounted to nothing.
The Garda were out in early, two vans, several patrol cars and an unmarked blue car full of grinning senior officers, who drove up and down the road all morning.
30 to 40 protestors picketed the trucks, cars and buses bringing in the workers. But the Shell contracted workforce was now minus five, according to local people. Five more workers quit after the Friday morning protest.
The picket lasted several hours, including a tea-break at the Shell-to-Sea information hut. Then the “musicians” decided to give the workers a little scare, and send the message the protest to this pipeline and gas terminal was not going away. They ran to the front gate and fence and used sticks to hammer out as much noise as they could muster until the only remaining police van drove up out front. The musical protestors retreated back to the information centre and then took up perch opposite the main entrance again and hammered out beats on drums and barrels.
For now, there seems no real retaliation from the Garda. There was a little pointless shoving of several of the known local members, but it amounted to nothing.
Oscar Beard
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oscarbeard@yahoo.com.mx
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