Royal Dutch Shell counter-attacked against Greenpeace on Friday, asking a judge to ban the group protesting near any of its property, with a million-euro fine as the cost of flouting the ruling. The oil multinational wants an order to ban "any Greenpeace protests in the Netherlands within 500 metres (yards) of its operations, including petrol stations or offices, or face a one million euro fine," the environmental lobby group said.
Greenpeace said the suit targeted its global campaign against drilling for oil in the Arctic and that Shell wanted a fine of an additional "100,000 euros for every day or part of a day that a violation of such order lasts." It was unclear however whether the injunction sought by Shell related to Greenpeace's protests in the Netherlands alone or would extend to its actions world-wide. "They are seeking to stop the global Greenpeace campaign against Arctic exploration," Greenpeace lawyer Jasper Teulings told AFP.
But Shell spokesman Wim van de Wiel declined to confirm this, saying "we have to wait until October 5" when the judge will hand down a finding. Greenpeace has organised several protests against Shell's exploratory drilling in the Arctic, including last week using bicycle locks to shut down pumps at more than 60 filling stations in the Netherlands. Shell said on Monday that it was delaying until next year exploratory drilling for oil in offshore Alaska after suffering damage to a dome used to contain any potential spills.
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