Kyoto protest beaten back by inflamed petrol tradersAwww, poor wittle lefty, are you being repressed? Can't understand why the obviousness of your self-important "cause" doesn't give you license to disrupt the lives of others without consequence? Living in an ivory-tower dream world in which you are protected by Political Correctness, rather than by rough men who stand ready to do violence in the night to keep your miserable ungrateful useless lifestyle safe?
By Laura Peek and Liz Chong
WHEN 35 Greenpeace protesters stormed the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) yesterday they had planned the operation in great detail.
What they were not prepared for was the post-prandial aggression of oil traders who kicked and punched them back on to the pavement.
“We bit off more than we could chew. They were just Cockney barrow boy spivs. Total thugs,” one protester said, rubbing his bruised skull. “I’ve never seen anyone less amenable to listening to our point of view.”
Gee, I can hardly imagine why they weren't more "amenable" to "listening" to your "point of view" when you invade and disrupt like this:
When a trader left the building shortly before 2pm, using a security swipe card, a protester dropped some coins on the floor and, as he bent down to pick them up, put his boot in the door to keep it open.This kind of frivolous all-about-me grandstanding is not going to be tolerated any more.
Two minutes later, three Greenpeace vans pulled up and another 30 protesters leapt out and were let in by the others.
They made their way to the trading floor, blowing whistles and sounding fog horns, encountering little resistance from security guards. Rape alarms were tied to helium balloons to float to the ceiling and create noise out of reach. The IPE conducts “open outcry” trading where deals are shouted across the pit. By making so much noise, the protesters hoped to paralyse trading.
Some causes are worthy of fighting for, like John Brown being driven by religious fervor to act against the intolerable institution of slavery shortly before the Civil War would officially break out and people like him would have been given medals instead of being hanged. But you better be prepared to kill or be killed, so make sure your issue is, you know, really important, before you go making a nuisance.
Or you'll be humiliated like this:
But they were set upon by traders, most of whom were under the age of 25. “They were kicking and punching men and women indiscriminately,” a photographer said. “It was really ugly, but Greenpeace did not fight back.”Sweet.
Another said: “I took on a Texan Swat team at Esso last year and they were angels compared with this lot.” Behind him, on the balcony of the pub opposite the IPE, a bleary-eyed trader, pint in hand, yelled: “Sod off, Swampy.”
“They grabbed us and started kicking and punching. Then when we were on the floor they tried to push huge filing cabinets on top of us to crush us.”
Mr Beresford said: “They followed the guys into the lobby and kept kicking and punching them there. They literally kicked them on to the pavement.”
Last night Greenpeace said two protesters were in hospital, one with a suspected broken jaw, the other with concussion.
The tide is turning.
