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Tear gas fired on Shell protest



By Upstream staff 

Nigerian police used tear gas on thousands of protesters at a rally against supermajor Shell in the oil hub of Port Harcourt today.

The rally at Shell's local headquarters was held by members of the Ogoni ethnic group after the expiration of an ultimatum last month to withdraw Nigerian troops deployed in the 1990s to protect Shell's oil facilities, from their tribal lands, Reuters said.

"We gave Shell an ultimatum to withdraw military and paramilitary personnel from Ogoniland, but they have not given any attention to it, that is why we are protesting today," said Moses Damgbor, secretary general of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP).

Shell has denied having anything to do with the deployment of troops to Ogoniland and has said that it is not in a hurry to return. It was accused of supporting military operations against activists there in the 1990s before abandoning its oilfields.

Damgbor said a handful of people were injured as they fled tear gas and a police charge against the protesters.

Tension has heightened since September in the Niger Delta, where most of Nigeria's 2.5 million barrels per day of oil is pumped. The Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force rebel group had threatened to blow up oil facilities in the eastern delta region near Port Harcourt.

Earlier this month, ethnic Ijaw militants invaded a Shell oil flow station in the western delta. Seventeen militants were injured by police.

Shell, which has been blamed for environmental degradation in Ogoniland is fighting a class-action suit that accuses the company of supporting military operations by Nigeria's former government against the Ogoni in the 1990s.

Tension rose in Ogoniland last month after a spill from the 24-inch Trans-Niger pipeline which carries crude from Shell's oilfields to Shell's Bonny export terminal damaged crops and polluted creeks.

Ogonis have recently celebrated the ninth anniversary of the execution of their former leader, campaigner and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa who was hung by the junta of late military dictator Sani Abacha in 1995.


Wednesday, 24 November, 2004, 11:16 GMT  | last updated: Thursday, 28 April, 2005, 09:29 GMT

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