Greenpeace stages soap plant palm oil protest

PROTESTERS — some dressed as orang-utans — claimed success last night in a campaign to highlight the destruction of the rainforests after storming Unilever’s soap factory in Wirral. Around 60 members of Greenpeace had stormed into the Port Sunlight factory early yesterday, and some chained themselves to production lines of the soap and detergent factory. It coincided with a similar protest in London when campaigners scaled ladders on to a balcony at Unilever House, on Victoria Embankment. Although many left the Wirral factory fairly soon afterwards, it was almost 4pm before the protest had completely ended. Sarah Shoraka, one of those who had taken part in the raid in Wirral, said they had met with “very minimal security” and “just walked right in, climbed the stairs and attached ourselves to the vats of palm oil”. The group had been highlighting the company’s use of palm oil and their protests coincided with a report released by Greenpeace called Burning Up Borneo. Greenpeace said the report showed how companies that supplied Unilever with palm oil were destroying the rainforest in Indonesia. Sarah Shoraka said: “This is the start of a really big campaign. We want Unilever to stop trading with companies that destroy the rainforest. “They buy from suppliers who are trashing rainforest areas and habitats for orang-utans. These areas should really be protected.” Andy Tait, a campaign manager for Greenpeace at the Wirral protest site, said last night: “Unilever have promised a substantive response in the next couple of weeks and during that time we will look at other ways to keep up the pressure. “Today has been a success in terms of keeping it on the public’s and Unilever’s agenda but the real success will be when Unilever changes their policies by not dealing with suppliers who destroy the rainforest.” A Unilever spokesman said production at the plant in the Wirral had not been affected by the action. Image source: greenpeace.org.> Continue.

News selected by Covalence | Country: Indonesia | Company: Unilever | Source: Liverpool Daily Post