Rossport – Solitare leaves Irish waters with no pipeline laid!
Indymedia UK - 1 Sep 2008
On Friday the 20th September, the pipe laying ship, the Solitaire, finally left Irish waters. During the ship’s time in Ireland, Shell failed to lay any part of the offshore pipe line. The departure of the Solitaire is a massive victory for the Shell to Sea campaign. Resistance in the past six weeks has taken many different forms: fishermen preventing the ship’s access to the bay by refusing to move from her path, site invasions by local people and the Rossport Solidarity Camp, numerous waterborne actions to prevent work by supporters from other parts of Ireland and further afield, national and international solidarity actions and finally, an 11 day hunger strike by local campaigner Maura Harrington, that continued until the ship left Irish waters. The events of the last 6 weeks have inspired not only those involved, but also many who witnessed them from afar, new links and friendships have been forged and many lessons learned. In the aftermath, the Shell to Sea campaign can clearly be seen to have been revitalized, both locally and nationally. It is unclear when the ship will attempt to return to Broadhaven Bay. It is possible it could still be this year if repairs are quick and a suitable weather window appears, or it may not be until next spring. However, while it may be uncertain exactly when the ship will return, what is certain, is that it will meet even greater opposition upon its next arrival. Come and be part of it! The Rossport community is calling on people everywhere to put pressure on Shell, Allseas (the company that owns the Solitaire) and Irish embassies to demand that the Solitaire leaves Irish waters immediately.Newswire: rossport solidarity action at irish consulate | The Solitaire leaves the Bayr | Rooftop occupation of Shells offices in Belmullet | Update from 11th of September | Daughter of Shell to Sea hunger striker paddles out to Solitaire | Rossport Solidarity Action in London | Rossport Solidarity Demo in London on Monday!! | Son of Shell to Sea hunger striker assaulted and arrested |Support Maura Harrington on hunger strike | Irish Embassy targetted for Rossport in Berlin | Rossport: Solidarity Action in Brighton | Rossport: The Time is Now | Rossport update | Urgent Call Out: Mayo Needs You! Now Is The TimePrevious features: Rossport: Another Season of Resistance | Shell to Sea campaign intensifies as work on refinery begins | Community under siege in MayoVideo: Video interview with Maura Harrington | Locals resist Shell?s occupation of Glengad | Paddle AttackLinks: Shell to Sea | Rossport Solidarity camp | Indymedia Ireland Mayo page | Indymedia UK Rossport Solidarity page

Actions to end grouse shooting
Indymedia UK - 1 Sep 2008
On Friday, 15 activists held a visual and noisy demo outside the Bradford Council Head Office at Jacobs Well, because of their plans to return grouse shooting to Ilkley Moor.Banners were tied up and held, and information given to all the members of staff and visitors going in through the main entrance. Members of public were very supportive and many made comments about the council not caring about the people of their town, never mind the animals to be killed if bloodsports return to the moor. The constant noise from the megaphone and chanting made sure that nobody could be unaware of why we were there.The demo then moved onto the City Hall where campaigners went inside the office and put the West Yorkshire Sabs website on every computer screen. Outside the main entrance, activists climbed up the gates and tied a banner across, much to the annoyance of the security guards who begun shaking the gate whilst someone was still up it!Other campaigners dropped banners off a nearby flyover to inform everybody coming into Bradford about council involvement in animal cruelty and bloodsports.Then on Sunday, West & South Yorkshire Hunt Sabs joined forces to stop grouse shoots in the Holme Valley, near Holmfirth.At the first shoot, over 25 sabs got between the beaters and the guns and then blocked the shooting butts resulting in most of the bloodsport enthusiasts cracking their guns and abandoning the first drive. Obviously angry at their ‘sport’ being stopped, members of the shoot assaulted one sab to try and get their video camera, rammed the sab van and the owner of the shoot decided it would be a good idea to put one of the front windows through on the vehicle. As per usual, the police couldn’t care less and were more interested in getting rid of the sabs with laws they didn’t even know themselves.The next group of shooters, a bit further down the road, packed up straight away when they saw the sabs arriving; however poor communication meant that they couldn’t tell the beaters who carried on driving the grouse towards guns that weren’t there. Realising they had been made fools of, one of the head beaters began shouting at the police to enforce laws that didn’t exist, to which they just told him the truth.The days sabbing was a great success, with countless lives being saved and two shoots stopped from killing.