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Activists from Greenpeace Nordic arrested after blocking oil tanker in Sweden


Lysekil, Sweden – WEBWIRE

Continuing two days of peaceful protest, six activists from Greenpeace Nordic this morning climbed the cranes in the oil harbour at Preem’s oil refinery in Brofjorden, Lysekil, on Sweden’s west coast. By blocking the cranes at the terminal, they prevented the crude oil tanker Grena Knutsen from unloading crude oil to Preem’s oil refinery. The activists were detained by the police.

The protest started at 19.30 CET on Thursday, when the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior sailed into the harbour passage and successfully blocked the Grena Knutsen from entering Preem’s oil refinery. No crude oil has been able to arrive at the refinery for the past 62 hours.

Johanna Grant Axén, one of the activists blocking the crude oil harbour says:

“To me it’s obvious that it’s impossible to reduce emissions by expanding an oil refinery. All fossil production must come to an end and our climate emissions must rapidly decrease to zero. When that doesn’t happen, I feel obliged to do everything in my power to make a difference. I want Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to stop the expansion of Preem’s Oil Refinery and ensure Sweden takes the situation seriously and leads the way to a green just transition.”

The protest has received support from prominent celebrities such as the climate activist Greta Thunberg, the pop-artist Robyn and actors Gustaf Skarsgård and Juana Viale.

Greenpeace Nordic demands that Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and the Swedish government choose the Paris Agreement over Preem and stop the planned expansion of the refinery in Lysekil.

Isadora Wronski, Programme Manager for Greenpeace Sweden says:

“The oil industry has no future, and the sooner our leaders act on that insight the more ecosystems and lives we can save. We don’t have much time, the world is burning, Stefan Löfven must choose the Paris agreement and our future over Preem. The peaceful protest continues and grows stronger day by day.”

The peaceful climate action was carried out with the utmost caution and safety of activists, staff and equipment in the area. All activists were experienced climbers and used ATEX-classified equipment for work in hazardous environments. The activists also had measuring equipment to ensure that they were not exposed to any hazardous substances when staying in the area.

ENDS

Notes

A campaign briefing can be found here.

(1) Background on the Preemraff court case and appeals

(2) Read more about Preem’s expansion and the Swedish climate law here

This action is part of the wider movement Stoppa Preemraff’s “weeks of action” against Preem’s expansions, including the Flotilla the Rainbow Warrior participated in on 5 September.

 


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