As soon as I heard the news, I knew I had to try and do something. It was hard to believe at first that the Russian authorities had illegally seized our ship, the Arctic Sunrise, in international waters and held her crew, some of them my friends, at gunpoint to tow them to Russia. However, once the news had sunk in, it was clear to me that I wanted to do something in solidarity with the 30 activists currently remanded in custody, most of them for two months.
There have been protests around the world at the detention of the activists and our ship, and today we added Edinburgh to the list when we visited the Russian Consulate at 58 Melville Street to show our solidarity with the Arctic 30 and to hand over a letter to the staff working inside to demand their release.
With less than 24 hours' notice, I scrambled along with my friends to get a protest together; printing and making placards (only stopping when we simultaneously ran out of printer paper and ink!), using the bamboo canes which had previously been holding up my runner beans as sticks and frantically texting and emailing people to make sure news of the planned protest got out.
The turnout was truly inspiring and really warmed my heart, especially considering that it was such short notice and we were starting relatively early on a weekday morning. Some of the supporters who came along in solidarity had woken up extra early to get there for an hour or two before they had to go to work, and we're so grateful to them and to everyone else who came along to help out. We managed to keep a solid presence outside the consulate for most of the morning, talking to a number of interested passers-by and making sure that anyone who passed or was going into the consulate was aware of the latest news about what has been happening in Russia this week.
Obviously, we don't know exactly what will happen next, but one thing came through loud and clear from everyone who came to support the Arctic 30 in Edinburgh today: we're watching, we're not going anywhere, and we'll do whatever we can to help get our activists home safe and sound as soon as possible.
To keep up to date with what's going on in Edinburgh with Greenpeace, including future events in solidarity with the Arctic 30, please sign up to our local group mailing list to receive regular emails from us.
Also, if you haven't already, please do send an email to the Russian Ambassador to ask for the release of our activists here: http://www.greenpeace.org/freeouractivists
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