By Sinead O'Hanlon
ReutersFebruary 25, 2003
British environmentalists, some dressed as tigers, forced the closure of Esso's United Kingdom headquarters and more than 100 petrol stations on Monday to protest at what they called the oil firm's "fueling of the Iraq crisis."
About 300 volunteers from the U.K.-based lobby group Greenpeace began raiding stations from dawn, removing power switches that controlled pumps and chaining themselves to pumps, said a spokesman for the lobby group.
"We've now shut down 115 stations and shut down their headquarters. We've had about 40 to 50 arrests but are planning on carrying on throughout the day or until everyone is arrested," the spokesman said. "This is in response to their fueling of the Iraq crisis and their funding of groups in Washington that are aggressively advocating an attack on Iraq as well as their stance on global warming."
Esso spokesman David Eglinton confirmed the station closures and said nonessential staff were told to stay away from the firm's headquarters in Leatherhead, southern England, because activists were on the glass roof and posing a safety problem.
DENIES GREENPEACE CHARGES
But he denied the lobby group's allegations that the company was pushing for military action in Iraq. Esso, whose tiger mascot was mimicked by some of the protesters, is a unit of U.S. giant ExxonMobil.
"People have every right to express their views, but it is ludicrous to suggest that ExxonMobil is in any way encouraging a potential war on Iraq," the company spokesman said. "The Iraq situation is entirely a matter for governments, not companies to resolves."
He said the firm had not made inquiries or had any talks with U.S. President George W. Bush's administration or any other government over military action to gain access to Iraqi oil.
Eglinton said many Esso stations had reopened by early afternoon and that only a fraction of the company's 1,300 British stations were affected. Greenpeace said they had planned the operation for a long time, naming it "The Italian Job" because the complicated planning resembled that of the 1960s heist movie. "This is the first time Greenpeace has attempted something like this across all the regions, and it has been a huge success," the spokesman said.
Greenpeace has accused Esso of running a decade-long "dirty tricks" campaign to subvert efforts to reduce the United States' dependence on oil and of spending millions bank-rolling pro-war lobby groups and fighting global action on climate change. It said Esso had been invited by White House staff to discuss the Iraq crisis at an "informational" meeting.
Activist Robin Oakley, who chained himself to a pump at a Bristol station, said that police were on the site but were not making any arrests there. "They are happy with the safety situation so are just surveying.... we are getting a lot of honks of support from people driving by."
Another campaigner, Anita Goldsmith, said the looming war against Iraq was an attempt by Bush to get control of Iraqi oil and that Esso was supporting this push. "No company has done more to fuel the crisis than his paymasters at Esso," she said.
Greenpeace said members would be packaging up the power switches they had removed from stations around the country and posting them to ExxonMobil executives in Texas.
More Information on NGOs
More Information on Protests Against War on Iraq
More Information on NGOs and Business
More Information on the Threat of War on Iraq
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
