Greenpeace Activists Removed from St. Johns Bridge

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Thursday, July 30, 2015

GoLocalPDX News Team

Police closed the St. Johns Bridge Thursday afternoon as Portland Fire & Rescue began to remove 13 Greenpeace protesters who have hung from the bridge since early Wednesday morning.

Greenpeace is being fined $2,500 every hour that protesters continue to block the ship's path. Reports have stated that people have also been removed from atop the bridge and placed in plastic handcuffs. 

The Willamette River was intermittently closed beneath the bridge during the protest.

Coast Guard crews forcibly moved kayakers, aka "kayakactivists" below the bridge by pulling them to shore via jet skis and small boats.  

"Our number one priority is safety," said Portland Police Public Information Officer Sgt. Pete Simpson at an early afternoon press conference.

More than a dozen activists lowered themselves from the St. Johns Bridge in North Portland early Wednesday morning as part of a demonstration against Shell Oil. Additionally, numerous people in kayaks and small boats entered the Willamette River below.

Greenpeace protesters created a similar demonstration in 2009 when four people attached to a massive bannerdangling from a Pittsburgh bridge in protest of a global economic meeting, and in Chicago to stop a coal barge. 

The Portland Greenpeace demonstration was organized in order to protest the Royal Dutch Shell PCL icebreaker Fennica that arrived in Portland on Saturday to receive repairs. The vessel was damaged earlier this month when it struck an underwater obstruction in the Aleutian Islands, tearing a gash in its hull. 

Greenpeace's total revenue in 2013 was $15 million. The Shell Oil icebreaker Fennica has indicated they would like to leave Portland today. 

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