Successful protest shutting down Esso station "fumigated" by police

Date of Incident: July 30, 2001
Received: August 3, 2001

 
 
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 11:27:29 -0400
From: Gomberg and Greenspiration 
Subject: How We Shut Down the World's Largest Corporation
 
How We Shut Down the World's Largest Corporation
By Tooker Gomberg
 
Nobody expected it to be this easy. It just took 40 or so cyclists to
converge on an Esso gas station and before we knew it our bike-in
had shut them down.
 
On a hot and smoggy Monday July 30, a dozen Toronto cyclists
joined thirty or so cyclists from the Climate Change Caravan
(http://www.thebet.ca), a group of cyclists pedaling across Canada
to educate Canadians about the climate crisis, and to encourage Canadians
to take action to reduce their personal reliance on fossil fuels.
 
At the Esso at Dundas and Church we blockaded the station^Òs exits and
entrances with a long line of bikes, and handed out leaflets urging
motorists to join the international boycott of Esso.
 
If you're wondering why so little progress is being made to fight the
climate crisis, look no further than the largest corporation on the
planet -- ExxonMobil, which wholly owns Esso in Canada. ExxonMobil was a major
contributor to George W. Bush's election campaign, and  without doubt
influenced Bush^Òs rejection of the Kyoto climate treaty. And while the rest
of the
world looks for ways to reverse global warming, this year Esso plans to
spend $7.9 billion looking for new oil, with not a penny for renewables.
 
"If you need to buy gasoline, please buy it at another gas company, for
the earth, and for our grandchildren" we said to motorists, as we handed 
them a leaflet.
 
The vast majority of drivers were sympathetic and drove off to our
wild applause. The man in the black Mercedes convertible was unimpressed.
"You did nothing to stop the bombing of Iraq for oil" he said, not knowing
that some of us were out protesting then too.
 
The grey haired man in the ancient, finned Cadillac nosed through the
bike-in. "Do you really think this is going to change anything?" he
asked. "This is how change happens in society" we responded. After some
discussion we shook hands amicably as he agreed to consider what we were
saying and
read our literature.
 
It took an hour before the boys in blue showed up in force: four police
cars, an unmarked car, and a handfull of bicycle cops. At least one police car
driver refused to turn off his idling engine, fumigating the protestors.
"Is this bothering you too?" menacingly asked as he loomed over a protestor.
 
But they allowed the protest to continue, as long as cyclists didn't
aggressively prevent motorists from entering the station. After an hour
and forty minutes and hundreds of leaflets distributed, we had made our point
and pedalled off into the night. Over congratulatory beers we promised
to do it all again sometime soon.
 
http://www.stopesso.com
tooker-AT-web.ca
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