Greenpeace activists arrested in R'dam harbor

In the Rotterdam harbor, 30 activists from Greenpeace were arrested on Thursday morning. The group was protesting the controversial Russian Mikhail Ulyanov oil tanker with two ships, including the Rainbow Warrior. The mission was to try and prevent the oil tanker from mooring at the Zevende Petroleum harbor. The oil that the tanker was transporting was bound for the French oil company Total. Greenpeace believes that oil drilling in the North Pole area is irresponsible and is asking the Dutch government not to allow this North Pole oil to enter the Rotterdam harbor.

The tanker received the oil from the Prirazlomnoye oil field, where Greenpeace activists on the Arctic Sunrise were driven away and later arrested by Russian authorities. Among the activists was Faiza Oulahsen from Amsterdam, who was present for the first time since her release from a Russian jail cell last year.

Oulahsen calls it "surreal" that a tanker with this oil is now mooring in Rotterdam. The campaign leader with Greenpeace says that the North Pole is visibly melting away. "Governments and oil companies such as Gazprom and Shell ignore these warnings and see the melting ice as a chance to drill for more oil. "Instead of seeing the consequences of climate change, oil companies are going for the quick win. The Mikhail Ulyanov with its North Pole oil is the start of the economic exploitation of the North Pole area", she says.