Friday 10 November was a national day of action at the Ballinaboy refinery site to shut down Shell. This was the eleventh anniversary of the hanging of nine anti-Shell activists in Nigeria and an important action to try to reverse the trend of Shell gaining access to the site.

Around 300 were mobilised from the local area and around the country. Garda brutality reached a new level with a baton charge, one Garda was heard to say "It's time for a baton party." Protesters were punched and kicked repeatedly and three were hospitalised. Despite this, the protest succeeded in delaying work on the site for one and half hours. The active and continued opposition of people locally demonstrates that because of the real health and safety threat that the pipeline and refinery pose, people will continue to protest on a daily basis. Shell gaining access to the site is chipping away at morale and confidence. While the removal of the peat and building of the site has not started yet, Shell wants to undermine and demoralise the campaign now to make their job easier later.

This approach must be met with resistance by opponents of the onshore refining. A national meeting of the campaign has been called for the end of November. This meeting has to elaborate a strategy that can defeat Shell.

A key first target must be the stopping of Shell at the refinery, even for one day initially. This can be done only by a serious campaign of public meetings and leafleting throughout Ireland, but in the towns in the west of Ireland in particular, to turn passive support into active support locally. The trade union movement needs to be pressurised now to go beyond lip-service in support of this campaign.

Members of unions in the West should be asked to lend their support at the daily blockades, bringing union banners and the support of their members. The actions at Ballinaboy then need to be backed up by activities throughout the country highlighting the government’s role in giving away €21 billion worth of gas, the police state they have imposed on Erris and the health, safety and environmental dangers. Such an approach of mobilising active support across the country is the way to force Shell and the government back!