Police Dismantle Anti-Shell Protest Tent in Seattle

By Eric M. Johnson

SEATTLE, June 8 (Reuters) – Police dismantled a tent on Monday used as a staging space for protests in Seattle over Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s use of town’s port as a house base for a drilling rig that might depart this week for the Arctic.

Over the final month, activists have staged demonstrations towards the oil firm’s Arctic drilling plans, together with on May 16 when a whole lot of protesters in kayaks and small boats fanned out on a Seattle bay.

Seattle police dismantled however didn’t seize the 16-foot (5-meter) by 32-foot (10-meter) logistics tent central to organizing the launch of a deliberate rig-stopping flotilla, mentioned Backbone Campaign Executive Director Bill Moyer.

He mentioned discussions with the U.S. Coast Guard counsel the Polar Pioneer rig might start its voyage to Alaska this week, presumably on Wednesday, although neither Shell nor delivery firm Foss Maritime has commented publicly on the schedule.

Environmental teams say drilling within the Chukchi Sea off Alaska might result in an ecological disaster.

“We would like Seattle to mobilize as many craft on the water as possible to be a flotilla through which this rig is not allowed to attempt to pass through,” Moyer mentioned.

Seattle Police Department spokesman Drew Fowler mentioned the tent was taken down in a West Seattle park that doubles as a ship launch and returned to its proprietor, although he was unsure whether or not Seattle or parks officers dismantled it.

“Folks had been camping in the tent, which is not allowed in any Seattle park,” Fowler mentioned. There had been no arrests.

Activists say they wish to get boats on the water as quickly as they study the rig is leaving the terminal. A compulsory security zone preserving watercraft not less than 100 yards away from the rig will broaden to 500 yards when it hits the broader Puget Sound on its option to Alaska.

Activists are asking folks to join protest shifts to allow them to be referred to as upon to rapidly mobilize when the rig prepares for departure.

The Coast Guard will implement the security zone within the Puget Sound, spokesman George Degener mentioned, including that it may be “almost impossible” for the rig to cease if a ship had been to all of a sudden enter its fast path.

Shell didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, nor did Foss Maritime. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson; Editing by Eric Beech)