more than a hundred acitvists took part in a sleep-in flashmob at tate modern this afternoon in protest at the the gallery's continued assocation with world eco-criminal 'british petroleum'.

despite the presence of several police, and security carrying out baggage searches at the south bank tate modern museum today, dozens of activists staged a succesful protest to highlight BP's attempt to repair its tarnished global image by sponsoring cultural spaces and events across the UK.

at exactly 2.15, at various points throughout every floor of the galleries, more than a hundred people simultaneously laid down, mostly covered with sheets and mock BP logos, put on BP-sponsored blindfolds, and 'fell asleep'. after four minutes, their BP-sponsored alarm clocks went off, filling the space with sound, and signifying a 'wake-up call' to tell tate to liberate itself from BP's dirty oil money.

at the same time, outside the gallery, two bamboo tripods were erected and activists strung banners between them, set up a bicycle sound system, and waited for people to emerge from the buidling.

for the next hour, speakers took the mic, and drew crowds of passers-by on a glorious sunny afternoon on the south bank.

an indigenous activist from the canadian province of north alberta spoke about how, while BP is busy pushing its public relations offensive to repair the enormous reputational damage caused by the mexico gulf disaster, they are also quietly continuing their 'sunrise project' in canada, a vast tar sands extraction programme which will cover a huge area of pristine boreal forest, threatening caribou herds with extinction and causing ecological havoc. we heard how the project has begun without BP consulting with local communities, thus violating indigenous treaty rights. the work has created serious safety concerns, with several steam blowouts already documented.

an activist from lousiana told how her family had fished for generations, but that the fishing community was now decimated by the BP gulf disaster. she was angry that, while fishing boats had been subject to draconian regulations and fishermen had been imprisoned for minor violations, BP executives had gotten away with the disaster without criminal charges or investigations, and her life and the lives of whole communities around her had been destroyed by the oil, the clean-up chemicals, and the devastated eco-system.

BP has announced it will also resume operations in the mexican gulf in july.

www.artnotoil.org.uk/bpweekofaction
www.no-tar-sands.org
www.risingtide.org.uk
www.ienearth.org/tarsands.html