Greenpeace protesters dangle from ropes off St. Johns Bridge to stop Arctic drilling ship

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Portland Oregonian

By Stuart Tomlinson | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on July 29, 2015 at 11:30 AM, updated July 29, 2015 at 11:32 AM

Saying they have enough supplies to last for days, a group of 13 Greenpeace USA activists rappelled off the St. Johns Bridge over the Willamette River early Wednesday in an effort to block a Shell Oil Arctic icebreaker from leaving Portland.

11:30 a.m. UPDATE: Shell Oil's icebreaker MSV Fennica remains at the Vigor Industrial dry dock on North Portland's Swan Island. A security patrol boat is floating just to the north of the dock area. There are no indications the ship will be leaving anytime soon and heading north along the Willamette and under the St. Johns Bridge.



Greenpeace activists rappel off the St Johns Bridge, and join people in kayaks in the Willamette river to protest Shell Oil's drilling in the Arctic. Shell's Fennica ship is being repaired at Vigor Industrial, on July 29, 2015. Mike Zacchino/Staff

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/07/greenpeace_protesters_dangle_f.html

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Protesters rappel from Portland bridge seeking to keep Shell icebreaker from departing

Posted on July 29, 2015 | By Joel Connelly

The “Shell No” campaign moved to Portland on Wednesday, as demonstrators rappelling off a bridge and “kayakctivists” in the water sought to block departure of a Shell-leased icebreaker that has a vital role to play in the oil giant’s Arctic drilling plans.

The 380-foot Fennica remained, for the moment, at the Vigor Industries dry dock in North Portland, where it arrived Saturday for repair of a 39-inch gash in its hull. The gash was acquired when the icebreaker hit an uncharted shoal, as it began the 1,000 mile journey from Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians to Shell’s oil drilling site in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea.



Activists hang under the St. Johns Bridge in Portland, Ore., in an attempt to block the Shell leased icebreaker, MSV Fennica Wednesday. The climbers are currently preventing the ship from passing underneath the bridge on its way to meet Shell’s drilling fleet. The climbers have enough supplies to last for several days. According to the latest federal permit, the Fennica must be at Shell’s drill site before Shell can reapply for federal approval to drill deep enough for oil in the Chukchi Sea.

Craig Mitchelldyer

It looks like a Conde B. McCullough bridge, but apparently it is not. The St. Johns Bridge was designed by David B. Steinman.

[Stargazer99]

1. the bastards will kill off living things in the name of capitalism (profit)

Our American god ....greed....at the expense of any form of life

[dembotoz]

2. More guts than I got

[Dont call me Shirley]

3. Time for a "War On Big Oil"

[Maedhros]

4. I always caution posters on DU against using the word "terrorist"

to describe perpetrators of crimes that the poster views as particularly heinous. I do this because the term "terrorist" is being misused by our Government and carries with it a severe curtailment of the civil rights of those designated as such.

I would not be surprised in the least if these Greenpeace activists end up getting charged with some stripe of "terrorism." Here is an article discussing animal rights activists and how they are so targeted:

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/28/dylan-roof-terrorist-animal-rights-activists-free-minks/

This latest federal prosecution, and the public branding of these two activists as “domestic terrorists,” highlights the strikingly severe targeting over many years by the U.S. government of nonviolent animal and environmental rights activists. The more one delves into what is being done here — the extreme abuse of the criminal law to stifle nonviolent political protest or even just pure political speech, undertaken with tragically little attention — the more appalling it becomes. There are numerous cases of animal rights activists, several of whom spoke to The Intercept, who weren’t even accused of harming people or property, but who were nonetheless sent to federal prison for years.
. . .
Even more abusive prosecutions — based exclusively on pure political speech and protest rights — have been common. Will Potter is likely the most knowledgeable journalist in the country on these issues; he’s author of a 2011 book entitled Green is the New Red, and editor of a great website by the same name that exhaustively covers these issues.
. . .
In 2004, {Lauren} Gazolla was prosecuted — and imprisoned in a federal penitentiary — for 40 months (three-and-a-half years) on charges that she and other activists maintained a website that endorsed illegal protests, and that her chants at a protest outside an executive’s house included advocacy of violence.

Please be very careful how you throw around the term "terrorist" - it's not harmless. "Terrorism" cannot just mean "crimes by people I really hate."

[turbinetree]

5. That is truely Brillant.............................

[swilton]

6. That's what I call

defending my country.

[JudyM]

9. Absolutely right. Nt

[markbark]

7. Why am I reminded of HHGTTG?

The 13 Greenpeace activists say they are "prepared to stay in Shell's way as long as possible"

MISTER PROSSER:
Mister Dent!

ARTHUR DENT:
Yes. Hello.

MISTER PROSSER:
Have you any idea how much damage that bulldozer would suffer if I just let it roll straight over you?

ARTHUR DENT:
How much?

MISTER PROSSER:
None at all!

I've a feeling that the same would result if a few dangly bits got in the way of a moving icebreaker.

[gcomeau]

8. It would of course not in any way damage the ship...

The resulting criminal penalties and lawsuit after a ship deliberately ran down a bunch of civilians on the other hand would do a whole different kind of damage.

[ManiacJoe]

10. Pull them up and arrest them.

Seems easy enough. Physics often escapes these protesters.