By Shelby Sebens
PORTLAND, Ore., July 28 (Reuters) - Protesters begangathering in a riverside park in Portland Tuesday evening,planning to drop kayaks in the water to protest Wednesday'sscheduled launch of a ship to be used by Royal Dutch Shell forArctic oil exploration.
Following the lead of protesters in Seattle who tried toblock ships headed for Shell's planned oil exploration in theChukchi Sea, the Portland "kayaktivists" said they would conducta vigil overnight on the Willamette River, which runs throughdowntown Portland.
"Our goal is to basically demonstrate as much communityresistance to Shell's plans to drill for oil and secure new oilreserves in the Arctic," said Meredith Cocks, organizer withenvironmental activist group Portland Rising Tide.
Lieutenant Steve Alexander of the Multnomah County Sheriff'sOffice said that a small group of protesters gathered atCathedral Park in Portland on Tuesday afternoon.
Alexander said that as of Tuesday evening the protests werepeaceful and the sheriff's department and the U.S. Coast Guardwould monitor the river to ensure boaters have proper equipmentand are safe.
The activists planned to take to the river early Wednesdaymorning to block passage by the Fennica, an icebreaker ship, onits way out of the area, though those plans were subject tochange depending on the ship's schedule, Cocks said.
The group opposes Arctic drilling, which environmentalistssay will put pristine wilderness at risk and accelerate globalwarming through continued reliance on burning fossil fuels.
"We're here fighting for humanity against the most wealthyand powerful industry in human history, but we're not afraid,because everything we love and value in life is on the line,"said Maya Jarrad, community coordinator for the environmentalgroup 350PDX.
Hundreds of activists in kayaks and small boats conducted asimilar protest on a Seattle bay in May, demonstrating againstplans by Shell to resume Arctic oil exploration while two of itsdrilling rigs were in the city's port.
In Portland, about 150 kayakers in boats protested theFennica's presence over the weekend.
In May, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management gaveconditional approval to Shell's resumption of fossil fuelexploration in the Arctic, which was suspended after amishap-filled 2012 season.
"Shell acknowledges the right of any individual ororganization to express their point of view; however we won'tcondone illegal or unsafe tactics that put people's safety atrisk," company spokesman Ray Fisher said. (Editing by Sharon Bernstein and Eric Walsh)