Greenpeace beatdown

Wish I could have seen this

Kyoto protest beaten back by inflamed petrol traders

By Laura Peek and Liz Chong

WHEN 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) yesterday they had planned the operation in great detail.

What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on to the pavement.

"We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs," one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. "I've never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view."

Another said: "I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot." Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: "Sod off, Swampy."

Greenpeace had hoped to paralyse oil trading at the exchange in the City near Tower Bridge on the day that the Kyoto Protocol came into force. "The Kyoto Protocol has modest aims to improve the climate and we need huge aims," a spokesman said.

Protesters conceded that mounting the operation after lunch may not have been the best plan. "The violence was instant," Jon Beresford, 39, an electrical engineer from Nottingham, said.

"They grabbed us and started kicking and punching. Then when we were on the floor they tried to push huge filing cabinets on top of us to crush us." When a trader left the building shortly before 2pm, using a security swipe card, a protester dropped some coins on the floor and, as he bent down to pick them up, put his boot in the door to keep it open.

Two minutes later, three Greenpeace vans pulled up (powered by what, I wonder?) and another 30 protesters leapt out and were let in by the others.

They made their way to the trading floor, blowing whistles and sounding fog horns, encountering little resistance from security guards. Rape alarms were tied to helium balloons to float to the ceiling and create noise out of reach. The IPE conducts "open outcry" trading where deals are shouted across the pit. By making so much noise, the protesters hoped to paralyse trading.

But they were set upon by traders, most of whom were under the age of 25. "They were kicking and punching men and women indiscriminately," a photographer said. "It was really ugly, but Greenpeace did not fight back."

Mr Beresford said: "They followed the guys into the lobby and kept kicking and punching them there. They literally kicked them on to the pavement."

Last night Greenpeace said two protesters were in hospital, one with a suspected broken jaw, the other with concussion.

A spokeswoman from IPE said the trading floor reopened at 3.10pm. "The floor was invaded by a small group of protesters," she said. "Open outcry trading was suspended but electronic trading carried on."

Eighteen police vans and six police cars surrounded the exchange and at least 27 protesters were arrested. A small band blocked the entrance to the building for the rest of the evening.

Richard Ward, IPE's chief executive, said that the exchange would review security but denied that protesters had reached the trading floor. However, traders, protesters and press photographers confirmed to The Times that the trading floor had been breached.

Mr Ward would not discuss whether he would press charges, and said he would not know until this morning if there had been any financial loss.

Greenpeace later started a second protest at the annual dinner of the Institute of Petroleum at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane, in Central London. Greenpeace claimed that five campaigners had got into the Great Hall. About 30 protesters were outside the hotel, some blocking the front entrance by sitting down and locking themselves together, while others sounded klaxons and alarms. Climbers scaled scaffolding to unfurl a banner reading, "Climate change kills, oil industry parties"

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-4646-1487741,00.html

So you're saying you wish you could have seen a bunch of non-violent protestors get the shit kicked out of them by a group of drunken, surly oil traders?

Have I ever told you that you're a classy guy, stock?

Let me guess, you think it's terribly hypocritical of them to ride in vans?

Wow, just when you think somebody couldn't be more of a jerkoff.


Although I'm not surprised that he endorses the unprovoked beating of anyone whose viewpoints he disagrees with.


Hey, Stock, I'm sure you're aware that Steve Dallas is gay, right?

Ummmm, guys, everybody got what they wanted. It was more or less win-win.

The problem with Greenpeace is that they rather continually target their direct action at the lowest echelon of whatever environmental ill their trying to address by fucking with their livelihood. Hence they get the shit beaten out of them fairly regularly. No real surprises, here. probably the same direct action cadre that got hosed off the deck of the timber freighter last spring. At least this time they were dry.

That's story had me cracking up. Damn I can't stop laughing. Hate me for it, who cares. The humor in this is clutch!

They arrested the protestors? So it's legal to assault someone as long as it's in your place of business?

Thats' funny as shit . Serves them right.

And it was hardly an unprovoked beating.

Yes, if they are tresspassing , it sure as shit is.

And how! The protestors breached security into a private business they didn't have any business or permission to be in, and tried to interfere with people working and trying to make a living. Who the fuck do they think they are?

it reminds me of that video footage of the PETA foot soldiers from a few years ago who tried to disrupt a runway show during new york fashion week. i loved it when they got tackled to the ground.

Another said: "I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot." Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: "Sod off, Swampy."


Because Texan S.W.A.T teams have to play by teh rules.

I also believe it's illegal to break into a private area, no?

If someone is trespassing, you call security. And they call the police. You don't break their jaw. Even most security guards aren't allowed to get physical. Don't you have to get some kind of license? I know this because someone was arrested where I work and the security officer broke the guy's shoe when he tackled him. He put up a fuss and the store had to replace it.

Look, by the letter of the law...you'd be correct. The lawful, civilized thing to do would have been to call security & the police. However, if they'd done that, the assfucks in GreenPeace would have just gone on disrupting their business.

So while it may not have been "legal" or "civilized"...the beating was certainly one thing...and that is "well-deserved"

So what? Haven't we had this discussion before? If you break the law, you get arrested. It doesn't open the door for someone else to do something illegal, as long as the person who commited the crime is the victim. Unless it's self defense. And there was clearly no physical violence by the protestors.

They should have just blown up the protesters' ship.

I submit to you that the tresspassing protestors were the ones commiting the initial assault with rape sirens and general assholery...they deserved to get their asses beat down. What do you think the chances are they would have been beaten ,if they did not illegally gain entrance to the premesis in the first place ?

Well it is in the UK not the US, and when is it the law that you have to wait for police or security? If someone burst into my office blowing horns and going nuts then I would grab them and toss them out too. (unless of course it was my birthday)

This attitude is one of the biggest problems we have in society today. People have been ACLU'd to death. People have abandoned common sense for a false sense of entitlement. I fully recognize that kicking the ever-loving shit out of Greepeace is not civilized...or even legal in this case.

The problem is...they should have fucking expected it. Accept the consequences of your actions, for fuck's sake.

34 people in 3 vans, petrol powered or otherwise, is actually one hell of a ride sharing scheme. seems green enough to me.

anyway, like it or not, the Greenpeace crew succeeded in drawing attention to their ideas. All the cavemen around here spanking it to the idea of the beatings are precisely what they counted on... peaceful protests aren't as media-friendly, because of folks like you.

Personally, I just plain hate Greenpeace. I think they're inneffective, annoying, and misdirected. They're over the line to the point that no one takes them seriously anymore except themselves.

That said, I have to send this to my dad. He was an oil exec for a while, he'll probably get a laugh out of it.

I'm sure they were expecting some retaliation. And yeah, they should have been arrested if they were trespassing in a private area. But the ones with the blood on their fists also should have been.

Why don't they go do something useful , like go to stand in front of an Israeli tank or two ?

[Edited on Feb 17, 2005 by Racer_X]