On 19 May 2020, one of our speakers at Shell HQ said: “Because of the circumstances, we are with a small group of people here today. But we know that our voice still echoes far and wide. At this moment, protests are being organised in different cities, in different countries and in cyberspace. And we know that we have friends on all continents, growing in numbers and confronting fossil power wherever it manifests itself. Together, we have given up on false hopes in the corporations that have fooled us, and of hopes in the politicians that failed us. Instead, we are placing hope in ourselves, in each other, and in organising and taking action from below. Together, we are standing up for a world based on solidarity and justice, beyond the logic of profit over life. Because we know another world is possible. Shell Must Fall!” ✊✊🏾✊🏿✊🏻
And indeed, the 19th of May was truely a day of international collaboration and solidarity. We are so proud that inspite of COVID-19, people all over the Netherlands and Europe took action to speak up against Shell and all the crises that this company is responsible for. While we were outnumbered by police in The Hague, people in other cities blocked Shell’s gasstations, dropped banners and protested in various ways in the streets and on the water!
Pictures of the actions in The Hague can be seen here.
Pictures of the local actions are here.
An (incomplete) overview of what happened outside The Hague:
The Czech climate action group Limity jsme my and Extinction Rebellion Praha occupied three Shell petrol stations in Prague with twenty people. There were banners with the text “End oil, end Shell,” “Climate justice,” “Energy democracy.” A banner drop took place at a Shell petrol station in Hamburg. In Berlin, Ende Gelände demanded the dismantling of Shell with a bicycle demo. There were also actions in Aachen and Cologne by Fridayd For Future. In Belgium, people from Climaxi, Act For Climate Justice and Extinction Rebellion Belgium joined forces to visualize Shell’s destruction in chalk. In Hengelo, two banner drops took place in a well-visited place with the text ‘Shell Must Fall’ (Extinction Rebellion Enschede). We also saw a bannerdrop in Maastricht and several wallpaintings from Utrecht and Rotterdam. Extinction Rebellion Leiden, Earth Strike Nederland, Fridays For Future Leiden and Doorbraak chalked in front of Museum Boerhaave and on the Beestenmarkt. Boerhaave Museum is accepting Shell oil money – this so-called Shell artwashing is a way to boost its image. In Amsterdam, the Shell Must Fall coalition organized a protest from the water. Personifications of Ben van Beurden (Shell CEO) and Charles Holliday (Chairman of the Board of Directors) went on a boottrip through the canals, with a globe slowly sinking behind it. More than a hundred people demonstrated online via Manif.app This online protest was set up by Climáximo in Portugal. Code Rood Groningen, Extinction Rebellion Groningen and Klima Aktion DK locked up gasstations in Groningen and Copenhagen!
We would like to thank everyone for the support, online and offline! We are proud that despite Corona we have made our voice heard and that we are strong enough to work together now!
More of this please! 💚💚
#ShellMustFall Let’s go!
Read our closing press release!