This weekend I have mostly been attending protests in London. I also went to see some bloke called Harper singing songs in Cambridge (which was nice). More on that later - back to the protests. Imagine a government which has given away vast quantities of natural resources, and in the process trampled over the rights and wishes of its own people, and you might think of some far corner of the developing world.
Well, you don't have to look that far, this is happening in Co. Mayo, Ireland.
Some background:
The Corrib offshore gas field contains substantial reserves of natural gas, believed to be in the order of 30 billion cubic metres, and preparations are hand for its exploitation by consortium of Shell, Statoil (from Norway), and Texas-based Marathon.
The current proposal is to bring high-pressure raw gas ashore by pipeline, to an inshore refinery at Bellanaboy, rather than refining at sea and pumping lower-pressure, processed gas ashore, as has been done elsewhere. The justification for this seems to be purely economic, after all, got to maximise those profits, Shell only managed to make £14billion last year.
The route of the proposed pipeline passes through the Rossport community, in some cases only a few yards from homes. Many of the local population are, not surprisingly, opposed to the project in its current form.
The plan has the backing of the Irish government, who are seemingly deaf to the concerns and protests of the communities affected. Added to these concerns is the environmental damage which has already been caused by the construction of the refinery. Run-off from the stripping of around 500,000 tonnes of peat has entered Carrowmore Lake, the water supply for 10,000 people, which has since been found to have dangerously high levels of aluminium, far in excess of EU and WHO limits.
And the benefits of all this damage? Well, nothing for the local population, and in fact nothing for Ireland's economy, the rights to these reserves have been signed over to Shell and their mates, leaving Bord Gáis to buy back the refined gas at full market value.
There is an ongoing campaign to have the refinery moved offshore, and to renegotiate the deal so that Ireland's population will derive some benefit from their natural resources. Surely, if Evo can do it for Bolivia, Bertie can do the same for Ireland?
Along the way, local farmers who refused Shell's contractors access to their land have been imprisoned, the Solidarity camp established by the campaign has been declared in contravention of planning regulations and removed as it occupied a "Special Area of Conservation". The same SAC was entered (illegally) and damaged by Shell's contractors sinking boreholes. Though this work was eventually reversed, in the process further damage was caused by the use of heavy machinery.
There's more information on the project and the objections to it on these websites:
http://www.corribsos.com/
http://gluaiseacht.nologic.org/wordpress/
http://www.indymedia.ie/
The opportunity was taken to mark this St. Patrick's day weekend with two days of action in London, "Bringing the Pipeline back to Shell". Organised by Gluaiseacht, and supported by the Shell to Sea campaign, a busload of local and international supporters travelled from Ireland to take part.
Sunday's St. Patrick's day Parade was entered, veiled as a local community arts group. The next day saw actions outside the Shell Centre on the South Bank, followed by a similar gathering outside at the London Tower Bridge Hilton, the venue for a Shell investors' meeting.
Some photographs:
Sunday - St. Patrick's Day parade
Preparations in the parade assembly area.
A bit of decoration is applied
Making the point
Click "Read more" for the rest of the photo's. 
On the road
After the parade finished, an impromptu demonstration was held in front of the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square.
Monday morning on the South Bank :
Demonstration outside the Shell Centre.
These chaps are members of the "Forward Intelligence Team", who take it upon themselves to film and photograph potentially subversive elements. Ironically, they are somewhat camera-shy themselves. Whenever my lens was pointed in his direction this one succumbed to an obviously uncontrollable urge to fiddle with his helmet.
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Gotcha!
What is wrong with this picture?
Later that day, at the London Tower Bridge Hilton Hotel. A small group attempted to gain access to the lobby.
The man said No.
More demonstrations for the benefit of Shell shareholders. I hope they appreciated the effort
Finally, a group photo before packing up.
