A report from Edinburgh and a few pics lifted from film work in progress.

Got into the city this morning early enough, yet there were still loads of people streaming towards the Meadows, a large green space in the south inner city of Edinburgh, hours before the demo was due to begin. I popped into the Indymedia Centre which is open up above the Forest Cafe on Bristo Place, near the University. They have a good setup there - roughly 25 computers running Knoppix, which is a variant of the GNU/Linux operating system. All are networked together and the place is wired for broadband. The radical radio people also have their equipment set up on the upper floor and will be starting to stream audio from this evening.

There were thousands of people heading to the Meadows around 9.30am, still a good bit before the scheduled kick off. The usual gauntlet run of flyer-handers, paper sellers, petition urgers etc had to be negotiated on the slope down to the convergence area.

A few minutes before the march was due to kick off, a crew of roughly 80 (seemingly comprised of many Irish Dissent! people) poured down the incline, masked up and dressed in black, visibly adrenalised, and shouting obscenities within earshot of many young and old sensitive liberal ears. "Commandante W" as I belief he is referring to himself as was in flying form, obviously in his element! They had been tailed for a while and the spotlight was on them, they disappeared around the corner towards the entrance point and that was the last I saw or heard of them until later in the afternoon...

The imprisoned five and their families request the developers, authorities, and the state, to accommodate the following:

Stop the illegal development in Rossport.

Cease all current operations in Erris, both onshore and offshore, including the refinery in Bellanoboy, and pipeline works in Aughoose, Rossport and Glengad.

Withdraw all threat of imprisonment and financial ruin over the people of North Mayo, and renegotiate the original gas deal, for the Irish people.

STATEMENT ENDS

Recent Related Indymedia Ireland Stories/Reports
Labour Issue Statement Condemning Pipeline / Galway: Rock Solid Support For The Rossport 5 / Corrib Gas - Four Courts - Friday, 1st July / Dail Debate On The Rossport 5 / Audio of Shell To Sea Press Conference: Thurs 30th June: Kildare St. Dublin / Shell v People of Rossport / Report From Rossport / Solidarity at Shell AGM London / Ogra SF Shut Down A Statoil In Dublin In Solidarity / Ogra SF Occupy Another Petrol Station / Update From Rossport Five / Coillte Implicated ?
Details Of Solidarity Camp And Protests

Shell Lawbreaking In Mayo: What Was Not Told In Court / Indymedia Shell VS Rossport Archive / Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied: An E-Mail To RTE / Joe Higgins Statement / Shell To Sea Dublin Press Conference: Thurs 30th June: Statement / I am Micheál Ó Seighin, of Ceathrú Thaidhg, Béal an Átha, Co. Mhaigh Eo / Galway : Rock Solid Support for the Rossport Five / The Issue For Statoil: Think For A Minute

The High Court has jailed five people at the request of Shell for attempting to stop the multinational from laying a controversial, high-pressure, "offshore" gas pipeline through their land in Rossport, Co Mayo. The judge ordered that the five men - four small landowners and a local supporter - be imprisoned "until they purge their contempt", meaning they will not be released until they have promised to allow Shell to dig up their land.

He warned them it was also in his power to seize assets, including their homes and farms. The judge also awarded costs against the five, Philip McGrath, Willie Corduff, Vincent McGrath, James Brendan Philbin and Michael O'Seighin. The landowners in question say if the pipeline goes ahead they will have to leave their homes because of the danger posed by the pipeline, which even Minister Noel Dempsey has acknowledged is "unprecedented" anywhere in the world. They had previously said they were prepared to go to jail rather than be "guinea pigs" in Shell's "experiment". Noel Dempsey has not yet given ministerial consent for the pipeline, yet the five were jailed for refusing to give an undertaking not to obstruct Shell from accessing their land to begin work. The jailing comes 10 years after the execution of nine Ogoni activists for their opposition to Shell's operation in Nigeria.