Police monitoring oil protest “very closely”
SHETLAND police assured the public on Wednesday that they were keeping a close eye on the Greenpeace protesters who have attached themselves to the huge drill ship Stena Carron just outside Lerwick harbour.
Observers are waiting to see how the authorities react to the protest being staged in opposition to oil giant Chevron’s plans to drill for oil in deep water 160 miles north of Shetland.
A similar protest off Greenland three weeks ago ended up with four Greenpeace protesters being arrested and deported. Chevron have made it clear that they regard the incident as a police matter.
Shetland’s area commander David Bushell emphasised that their priority was the personal safety of the protesters, their supporters and the people on board the drill ship itself.
Greenpeace have said they are equipped to remain attached to the anchor chain for a whole month after bringing a special accommodation pod into action on Wednesday morning.
Chief inspector Bushell said: “All the work that we are doing is around ensuring people’s safety and we are working towards hopefully having the situation resolved in a peaceful manner.”
He said they were monitoring the vessel and the surrounding area “very closely”, but would not say whether extra officers were being brought up to Shetland to deal with the incident, which is being coordinated from Inverness by Northern Constabulary.
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