Protest outside Coke offices to mark international human rights day

national | anti-capitalism | news report Wednesday December 10, 2003 18:59 by Cian - LY

Labour Youth held a protest today outside the corporate offices of Coca Cola at 38-39 Lower Baggot street.

The protest took place over lunchtime and marked International Human Rights Day on Wednesday December 10th. Leaflets outlining the details of the Miami case taken against Coca Cola's bottling partners in Colombia were distributed to passers by.

The protest seemed to arouse someone's attention, with the Gardaí been called in. However it not been against the law to hand out leaflets outside Coke's offices, the Gardaí contented themselves with watching the protest from across the road before, coming over to take names and addresses.

The protest is part of an ongoing campaign by Labour Youth members and other activists calling for a boycott of Coke in response to the international call for solidarity by SINATRAINAL.

Labour Youth members were active in the sucessful boycott campaign in UCD along with other activists and have also distributed coca-cola boycott leaflets and run stalls in Trinity, Maynooth, DCU, Limerick Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown IT, Grafton Street and University of Limerick. In Trinity the Labour society was threatened with suspension and derecognition because of the action Labour members had taken in defence of trade union rights in Colombia.

As the protest continued over lunch, a PR consultant hired by Coke to counteract the boycott campaign was spotted leaving Coke's HQ. It is quite likely that the protest coincided with a Coca Cola strategy meeting about the boycott campaign.

Pictures will follow.