Coal protest team glued to doors
18/08/2008
Activists glued themselves to the revolving doors of a mining company in central London.
Nine people, seven from Oxford, took part in the 90-minute protest at BHP Billiton's headquarters in Victoria from 1510 BST.
They protested against the further use of coal as an energy source. The firm confirmed that the protest took place.
About 1,500 people protested on the same issue near Kingsnorth power station in Kent last weekend.
On Monday, protesters glued themselves to doors and windows in the building's lobby and scattered coal over its foyer.
Protester Inez Carpentier said: "Expansion of the coal industry is unacceptable in the face of impending climate chaos.
"Mining giants such as BHP are undermining collective action on climate change."
One of the protesters, who did not want to be named, said he climbed onto a beam in the lobby.
"BHP is the biggest coal company in the world. Since everyone is aware of climate change we decided to take action against them."
He added: "We chose this method as we thought it was the most appropriate. There was no violence and there were no raised voices."
After talking to police officers the protesters released themselves from the doors and windows. No-one was arrested.
BHP Billiton confirmed that the protest took place at their headquarters but would make no further comment.
The activists, from Oxford and Thames Valley Climate Action, were part of the weekend's Climate Camp protest in Kent.
They had protested against energy firm E.On's plans to build new coal-fired units.
On Saturday they held a day of action which saw 50 activists arrested and 123 taken out of the River Medway.
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