Day of action for Burma in Chester

From Indymedia

Wrexham Women for Peace and supporters held a stall for Burma in Chester city Saturday July 19th to encourage people to boycott TOTAL petrol stations, to call for the release of all political prisoners in Burma, and to support those affected by Cyclone Nargis. In the afternoon, there was a demo outside Hoole TOTAL petrol station.

The morning sunshine was punctuated by torrential downpours and high winds, so it was a bit of a challenge to keep the stall upright and the leaflets dry. Nevertheless, Chester was packed with people for the Lord Mayor's parade, so we weren't short of punters.

In the afternoon, in slightly kinder weather, we held a noisy demo outside Hoole TOTAL petrol station. The response to our 'beep for burma' banners and placards was overwhelming. An irate TOTAL worker came out to shout at us for venturing onto the forecourt and to defend her employer on the spurious grounds that Shell - who she used to work for - is just as unethical. Yeah, we know that, but today is about Burma and TOTAL is the main culprit there.

It would be great if these demos were held at a frequency to cause real concern to TOTAL, and with the aim of shutting the petrol station down. Anyone in Chester or nearby up for this?

e-mail: wrexhamwomen_at_yahoo.co.uk

Wrexham crew return to Chester Total garage

From Indymedia:

Members and supporters of Wrexham Women for Peace and Wrexham Peace and Justice Forum visited the TOTAL petrol station in Hoole, Chester again last night as part of the continuing calls for TOTAL to get out of Burma.


There was a very positive response again to our demo for the people of Burma at Hoole TOTAL petrol station. Only a handful of drivers and passers-by refused to take leaflets, the garage forecourt was empty for most of the time we were there, some drivers decided not to fill up after taking the leaflets, and others drove straight in and out.

The air was filled with supportive 'beeps' and we got chatting with several people, including three young guys who have a friend working in one of the refugee camps on the Thai/Burma border, and a German from Rostock who was in Chester for a conference and said he was surprised to see people demonstrating in Britain!

Surprisingly, there was no resistance from the petrol station to our leafleting drivers on the forecourt this time, although when we invaded en masse, the manager did get onto his tannoy.

For more information about the situation in Burma, see http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/

For more photos from this action, see the original report on Indymedia.

Any Chester-based people like to make this event happen more often? Please get in touch. wrexham woman
e-mail: wrexhamwomen[at]yahoo.co.uk