Shell Head Office Occupied

In solidarity with indigenous resistance to oil giant Royal Dutch/Shell in Nigeria and as a foretaste of direct action to come, 3 groups barricaded themselves into two senior management offices and the corporate library in Shell-Mex House, London. January 4th was the first day of work in 1999, and also Ogoni Day, celebrated since Shell was forced out of Ogoni through massive resistance.

The concerned individuals seized three key locations in the building, some of which had a pleasing view of Waterloo bridge and the banner being hung across it- by others - reading "Shell: Filthy Thieving Murderers - It's Time to Go".

While two of the groups studiously occupied themselves with information marked 'strictly confidential', or phoning out to Shell-related corporations, the others created a live website - www.kemptown.org/shell - updated hourly with details of the action, and information on the Delta, where the oil-sponsored military crackdown has been responsible for over 200 deaths over the last few weeks.

Repeating the demands of the Ijaw of Nigeria; who have so far managed to cut Nigeria's oil output at times by over a third;the activists refused to leave until Shell agreed to pull out of the Niger-Delta by the 11th, and to end all oil exploration. Shell executives refused to co-operate and instead the TSG (riot police) evicted the occupiers by bashing in the office walls, unfortunately trashing the offices in the process, and arresting the 13 inside on suspicion of criminal damage.All were later released without charge.

The next day some of the 13 returned to leaflet Shell employees, informing them of why their bosses' offices were occupied, what a scum company they worked for, and that the building was shutting mid-day, all of which led to all entrances being locked except the main gate which was guarded by police..Shell are still cross about the virtual occupation by the activists' website which subverts their own.

As if not disgruntled enough, on 8th January, German activists invaded Deutsche Shell in Hamburg in solidarity with the Ijaw. All in all in has been a bad start to the New Year for Shell's PR image and suggesting instead that 1999 will see increased globalisation of resistance to corporate dominance.