25/04/2003

Three Essex Esso stations were successfully picketed last weekend - for a full 24 hours.

The pickets, organised by the Greenpeace local Essex group, saw 30 activists from across the county converging on stations in Chelmsford, Southend and Romford, from 8pm Friday to 8 pm Saturday.

Area Networker Shaun Qureshi said the pickets went very, very well. "People really understand what this campaign is about. The forecourts were pretty much clear of customers. It was great to see what we could achieve with a relatively small number of people."

There was some confusion for a local Indian takeaway owner in South End when the picketers ordered a curry and asked for it to be delivered "to a tent outside the Esso station". The food did arrive eventually.

The intrepid Essex crew have now done around 80 pickets since the campaign began in May 2001. The 24-hour pickets were the latest in a series of demonstrations building up to Saturday 24th May, when they plan to picket every Essex station in a single day.

If you're in Essex and want to get involved, make sure you join the local StopEsso discussion lists by either logging in to My Stopesso, or, if you haven't done so, by going to the front page and signing up to the campaign.

[Previous entry: "Sing a song of Esso"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Shareholder protest rises"]