Green students blockade UK petrol station

[lynx@gn.apc.org]

  RECEIVED BY DELTA FROM GSN / SEA CONFERENCE
  
  
  Press Release
  
  Sunday 16th November 1997
  
  
  This afternoon at 3pm in Reading, UK, one hundred student environmentalists
  peacefully
  blockaded the Shell filling station on Shinfield Road for nearly an hour.  The
  non-violent direct action was planned by students from all over the UK who were
  attending the first Green Students Network (GSN) and Students for Environmental
  Action (SEA) National Conference being held at the University of Reading
  Students
  Union centre, Whiteknights over the weekend.
  
  Banners, placards, music and dancing were taken on to the garage forecourt
  whilst
  motorists were encouraged to shop elsewhere for their fuel.  Drivers and
  passers-by
  were handed leaflets explaining why students were demonstrating against Shell.
    "The action was really important in highlighting the issue of climate change,
     and Shell was chosen because of their horrendous record on human rights
  issues,"
  said Marie Leverett of the Earth Action Group at Reading University.
  
  November is the second anniversary of the execution by Nigerian authorities
  of the
  environmentalist and writer Ken Saro Wiwa who campaigned for the rights of
  people
  living in Ogoniland where Shell has the region's largest oil drilling
  operations.
  On 1st December heads of state from all around the world meet in Kyoto,
  Japan for
  the Climate Change Conference.  Shell is opposed to nations setting limits of
  greenhouse gas emissions which would force a reduction in the burning of
  fossil fuel.
  
  
  [Contact details from DELTA]
  
  Colour pictures and Hi-8mm video footage of the action are available
  
  
  
  
  ******************************************************
  
  DELTA: News and background on Ogoni, Shell and Nigeria
  
  Box Z, 13 Biddulph Street, Leicester  LE2 1BH, UK   
  tel/fax: +44 116 255 3223  e-mail: lynx@gn.apc.org      
  web: www.oneworld.org/delta
  
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  (lynx@gn.apc.org)