On Saturday 16th December potential customers at a Shell petrol station in Barnsley were given information about the activities of Shell in Mayo and encouraged to boycott the company.
A group from Rhythms of Resistance North moved in on the petrol station mid-afternoon. The entrance and exit were blocked, banners hung and leaflets given to motorists and pedestrians with information about the Mayo pipeline. Many people received the information sympathetically. One motorist returned from the nearest alternative source of petrol, two miles away, so people could be diverted to it.
Several car drivers however were very confrontational, driving into sambistas and in one case forcing a player on to their car bonnet before braking to cause her to fall off.
The first police to arrive read out various threats, which couldn’t be heard above the drum beats. Eventually reinforcements arrived, adding to the chaos with a number of vehicles of their own. For a while they held up the traffic so their photographers could get a better view.
When it came to the point of inevitable arrest for continuing the blockade the sambistas decided it would be more productive to move to the pavement and continue drawing people’s attention so they could be given more information. A fair proportion of car drivers chose not to enter the station even when the entrance was unblocked.