THE HAGUE, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Environmental activists
chanting "keep it in the ground" blocked the entrance to Shell's
headquarters in The Hague on Friday, protesting at the energy
company's role in climate change, until police dragged them
away, detaining 30.
Some of the environmentalists from the Extinction Rebellion
and Shell Must Fall! lobby groups wedged themselves between the
glass front doors of the building. Others held banners and
splashed a black liquid on its front steps, chanting slogans
including "ExxonMobil, BP, Shell: take your oil and go to hell!"
"Shell is one of the biggest polluters," said one woman who
had glued herself to a railing outside the building. She
declined to give her name. "If we want to have a chance for
stopping climate change, Shell is one of the first companies
that has to go."
In a statement, the groups said they were motivated by what
they said was hypocrisy by Shell.
"Shell claims regularly that it is 'part of the solution' to
the climate crisis, but at the same time the company announced
its intention last year to increase its tens of billions of
(dollars in) investments in fossil fuels."
Police spokesman Stefan van Sande said 30 activists had been
detained because they did not have a permit.
In a reaction to the protest, Shell said it respects the
activists' right to demonstrate.
"We ask only that they do so within the law and with their
safety and the safety of others in mind".
The company said that its strategy is in alignment with
international climate treaties. "In that sense we have the same
goal as the activists. We only disagree about the methods."
(Reporting by Toby Sterling;
Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
