Crude but effective
Shutting down Coryton oil refinery, 16 October 2010

We did it! We out-foxed the Metropolitan police force and in doing so managed to blockade Coryton oil refinery, seriously disrupting the flow of oil into London - over 375,000 gallons of the black stuff. The oil industry finally received its Crude Awakening. And let’s hope that was just the beginning! But before we all start to plot and plan, for those who couldn’t make it on the day, or those who want to know what happened on the different blocs here is the Crude Awakening Action Report.

Early on Saturday morning while most slept on, the final finishing touches were being put in place for the biggest climate change mass action of recent years. As it stated on the leaflet to be handed out on the trains many hours later… This was not to be a rally, a demo or a march. This was a mass direct action to disrupt the flow of oil into London. The day had arrived and it was time for the oil industry’s Crude Awakening.

At 10 o’clock the blocs started to gather at the three meeting points. At Waterloo about 100 joined the Building Bloc, at Euston similar numbers waited with the Dirty Money Bloc and at Victoria 300 or thereabouts prepared to place their bodies in the way with the Body Bloc. At this last location, one Body Bloc-er overhead a very panicked Gatwick Express worker asking a policeman “are they going to Gatwick? Could Gatwick possibly be a target?” Only to get the reply – “We have no idea where they are going.”

Each bloc handed out its 46 coloured flags which would guide people through the underground. The clock ticked down and the blocs grew bigger. Then at 10.11 AM the first text was sent out to everyone assembled – “Ready to go?! Wait 2 b guided to the destinations by the flags. Try 2 b quiet on stations to help the plan along. Txt2 will follow in case u get lost. Good Luck”. At each bloc, people using sound systems (cleverly built to look like briefcases!) read out final instructions. Then the blocs were off, down into the underground. 25 minutes later and the first bloc out, Dirty Money, moved straight into Fenchurch Street train station, much to the bemusement of the accompanying police. A few minutes later and the Building Bloc, who opted to walk from Monument after a signal failure, would join them on the train to Stanford-le-Hope. The first train was off and the Met were left in the dust. Hearing that some 30 miles away an affinity group of 12 women had just shut down the only road in and out of Coryton oil refinery, they finally put two and two together, switched on the blue lights and started to race the train along the A13.

Meanwhile the Body Bloc, complete with samba band Rhythms of Resistance and the Giant Chalk Army, was sitting underground on a very slow moving eastbound District line. When it finally arrived at Tower Hill, the masses streamed out of the tube and into the train station, straight onto platform four and on to the next train to Stanford-le-Hope. Departure time - seven minutes and counting. A nervous seven minutes passed, the departure time came and went, City police lined the platform and people prepared to occupy the train until it was allowed to leave if need be. Met police left the train and City police took their place. Obviously City police fancied a day out as the next thing that happened was the doors closed and the Body Bloc departed London. Cue sighs of relief. After the last bloc had left, police practically closed Fenchurch Street station and began searching all those boarding trains. Bit late officers! It was becoming obvious that they were clearly one step behind the action.

On the train 30 minutes ahead the Dirty Money and Building Blocs were reading the leaflet that told them all about the target, the plan for the day and the exit strategies available to them should they not want to attend. All now knew that the space we had all been preparing to hold was a road. The sole access road to Coryton, the busiest refinery in the UK, which supplies 22% of the petrol sold on Britain’s forecourts. Each tanker we would stop – and there are 700 leaving each day – would be 7,500 gallons less oil flowing into London. While some explored their goody bags that had materialised (complete with white suits, arm tubes and lock-ons) others studied the maps and planned the best routes. When the train arrived, the racing police vans still en route, the two blocs exited the station and set off on the 30-minute walk. Very quickly the two blocs split and the Building Bloc collected some goodies of their own – 20 super lightweight bamboo tripods. The police had by this stage arrived but as blocs were moving through fields (presumably not what police had been briefed for that morning, as proved by comedy cop quote #2 – “Fields! I’m not wearing the right shoes for this!”) the policing was disorganised and police lines where repeatedly broken through by the well-prepared Dirty Money bloc. Those still on the roads also managed to get in front of vans full of police to ensure that they could not block the way or get significant numbers to the women who had locked themselves under vehicles further down the road.

Dirty Money were first to the affinity group blockade, arm tubes at the ready, while the Building bloc were still in the fields playing tripod tug-of-war with police. While the police won a few rounds they soon realised many more tripods were already going up across the main access road – blockading not only Coryton but Shell Haven as well – and their battle had been lost.

At about this time, the 300 strong Body bloc (over 100 now sporting very fetching skeleton boiler suits) were making their way out of the train station and through the town. The bloc outnumbered police ten to one and as the other two blocs had cleared the way this journey was free of any police interference. Through the town, into the country lane, though a few fields and hey presto everyone had made it to the blockades. Only a few things were missing… a sound system or two and the long promised stilt walkers. And, timed to perfection, within minutes who should arrive but the ‘Day of the Dead Stilt Walkers’ and two sound systems.

At 1.53pm another text was received… “We did it! Coryton, the UK’s busiest oil refinery is blockaded! Lorries stopped, and we’ve switched off the flow of oil. Oil’s time is up!” As if disgruntled by the celebrations, police tried to move through the tripod blockade en masse but they came up against a determined line that would not give. Going the other way the blockade made a consensus decision to allow workers in cars to leave the site – clear that our issue was with the greedy oil companies and not the workers.

Over the next 4 hours people shared the tasks, switching who was atop of the tripods, who was forming a physical barrier with the arm tubes and who was helping those locked under the vehicles. At 5pm those who had been locked on underneath the vehicles for over 5 hours unlocked, stood up, and disappeared into the crowd. The rest of the group packed up and joined the tripod blockade further down the road. After a short meeting where spokes from all supporting groups, affinity groups and friendship groups fed in, a collective decision was made that we should leave at sunset. The site was carefully taken down, any and all rubbish collected, and the group moved en masse back to the train station … with the tripods, the arm-tubes and the vans that had created the first blockade. Yes, that’s right, we still have those amazing tripods!

Everyone boarded the train back to London, which was packed full of activists, many chanting “Whose train? Our train!” People were exhausted but incredibly inspired. Some slept (one or two in the overhead luggage storage areas) while others discussed the day… people were happy that we had been one step ahead of the police but more than that, that we had worked together, through city streets and country lanes, on tubes, trains and on foot. People had stepped up and when needed pushed through… and we had effectively disrupted a critical piece of infrastructure in the oil industry machine.