Early this morning a group of people from the Earth First! and Rising Tide Baku campaigns closed off the entrance to AMEC House in Warrington, Cheshire in protest against the construction company's role in the proposed Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline.

At aroud 7:30 am, a tripod was erected and a chain of people locked together across the entrance and leaflets were handed out. The action prevented around 250 vehicles from entering the complex, causing deliveries to be cancelled and making company workers climb over locked-on people and a banner proclaiming "Stop Baku Pipeline" to get to work.

After 3 hours and absolutely no action on the part of the three baffled and slightly bored police, the protest packed up and went to the pub, retrieving the materials, with no arrests.

The Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline will be 1086 miles long if built, with 1 million barrels of oil a day planned to flow through it. AMEC have so far been awarded a £300 million contract to assemble and bury the pipeline in Azerbaijhan, and to build facilities such as pumping stations in Azerbaijhan and Georgia. This action is part of an ongoing campaign against financiers, construction companies and government departments involved in pushing ahead with this project.

LEAVE THE OIL IN THE GROUND - NO NEW OIL!

There are about 90 days left for public consultation on whether UK TAXPAYERS MONEY will be given to private companies to profit from this madness.

For more info
- on the pipeline: www.baku.org
- on action against the pipeline (including a list of AMEC & others' offices): www.earthfirst.org.uk/manchester/baku and www.risingtide.org.uk