Mr
Iain Wilson | 04.02.2003 21:26
400 words on the police dragging LSE students out of an Exxonmobil office building. And then nicking one outside their other office building.
Student demonstrations for International Day of Action against oil
LSE students occupied the Exxonmobil offices that sit alongside their campus buildings as part of protests about the oil companies that drive the West’s thirst for oil. On Tuesday, eighteen activists managed to get into the third floor of ‘Tower 2’, Clements Inn Road. But the day finished with the arrest of a 19 year old female LSE student for standing on the Aldwych, and a subsequent protest outside Charring Cross police station.
After peaceful singing, sitting and laughing in Tower 2 the police turned up. In numbers. The activists were all forcibly removed using the police’s favourite pressure points, and bundled down the stairs. And into a crowd of LSE sutdents and police- some with batons, some without, some with visible numbers, some without. In spite of the LSE owning Tower 1, and the street being part of the LSE students daily life, the police saw fit to move everyone off the street. Protestors were shoved over, and herded off the street after the university newspaper tried to take a group photo of the police and protestors.
After all 18 had been thrown out, the protest, now numbering 40-odd, moved to Exxonmobil’s second building on the Aldwych. The protest was jubilant and peaceful. Protestors stood outside the building, held ‘Boycott Esso’ and ‘Not in Our Name’ banners, distributed fliers and sang. At this point the police decided to arrest one of the LSE students. Suddenly, the police swooped, grabbed the student and dragged her into the back of a van. The only reason given was ‘We asked her to move 3 times’. She was later charged with Obstruction of a Public Something. The street was public enough for pavement and walking. But not public enough to stand on. At this point, about 20 protestors moved onto Charring Cross police station, with the rest remaining outside Exxonmobil. After an hour and a half outside the police station, the police finally agreed to let a friend talk to the incarcerated student, who was able to pass on the phone number of a lawyer. Until then, there seemed to be an uneccesary number of barriers between the lawyer, who specialisises in these sorts of cases, the charged., and those concerned for her well-being.
Photos will follow when the student journalists get in tomorrow. More on exxonmobil.
http://www.stopesso.com
LSE students occupied the Exxonmobil offices that sit alongside their campus buildings as part of protests about the oil companies that drive the West’s thirst for oil. On Tuesday, eighteen activists managed to get into the third floor of ‘Tower 2’, Clements Inn Road. But the day finished with the arrest of a 19 year old female LSE student for standing on the Aldwych, and a subsequent protest outside Charring Cross police station.
After peaceful singing, sitting and laughing in Tower 2 the police turned up. In numbers. The activists were all forcibly removed using the police’s favourite pressure points, and bundled down the stairs. And into a crowd of LSE sutdents and police- some with batons, some without, some with visible numbers, some without. In spite of the LSE owning Tower 1, and the street being part of the LSE students daily life, the police saw fit to move everyone off the street. Protestors were shoved over, and herded off the street after the university newspaper tried to take a group photo of the police and protestors.
After all 18 had been thrown out, the protest, now numbering 40-odd, moved to Exxonmobil’s second building on the Aldwych. The protest was jubilant and peaceful. Protestors stood outside the building, held ‘Boycott Esso’ and ‘Not in Our Name’ banners, distributed fliers and sang. At this point the police decided to arrest one of the LSE students. Suddenly, the police swooped, grabbed the student and dragged her into the back of a van. The only reason given was ‘We asked her to move 3 times’. She was later charged with Obstruction of a Public Something. The street was public enough for pavement and walking. But not public enough to stand on. At this point, about 20 protestors moved onto Charring Cross police station, with the rest remaining outside Exxonmobil. After an hour and a half outside the police station, the police finally agreed to let a friend talk to the incarcerated student, who was able to pass on the phone number of a lawyer. Until then, there seemed to be an uneccesary number of barriers between the lawyer, who specialisises in these sorts of cases, the charged., and those concerned for her well-being.
Photos will follow when the student journalists get in tomorrow. More on exxonmobil.
http://www.stopesso.com
Iain Wilson
e-mail:
I.Wilson@lse.ac.uk
