You will need:
- A strong purpose
- Lots of people
- High-visibility jackets
- Courage
Step one: Get in the way
It's really quite remarkable how much authority people hold to fluorescence in general. Add a protective hat as well and you can pretty much get a heavy flow of traffic in early morning rush-hour near London to come calmly to a halt. This is exactly what we did.
The cars watched as we all marched confidently across the road in front of them, towards Centrica. They remained quiet and still as the traffic team gathered large cones and official-looking signs and placed them in a line across the entrance to the building. Signs were also placed further down each side of the road, as an early warning. Around us, other teams were carrying out their tasks as rehearsed. Somebody was probably chained to something by now. The giant bill was under construction. The office was closed.
Step two: Hold your ground
Probably less than a minute later (though it felt like much longer), people started to notice that something was not quite right. A line of cars in the centre of the road were waiting to turn right in to the car park. Their indicators were all flashing furiously, and windows were wound down. Incredulity. Confusion. Anger. How dare we close their building? What on earth do we think we're doing? Get out of the way!
Our team formed a line across the entrance, interspersed with traffic cones. There was no way of getting in without driving through us. We calmly and politely informed people within earshot that we were sorry, but that the office is now closed. Please move along, we said, you are holding up the traffic. We informed the drivers about an alternative place to park nearby, and suggested that they went there. To those not in earshot, we tried to motion to them as best we could to keep moving.
Step three: Remain calm
One man got out of his car and grinned maliciously. He shouted to us that the police were on the way, in an I-told-you-so sort of way. They'll just move us on. Well, we said, that may be the case. But right now, you're not coming in. The office is closed.
I remember looking past him across the road to the park opposite. I tried to force myself to think about how pretty the trees were swaying in the wind instead of how much panic and anger was going on in the near distance. I maintained my stance: head up, neutral expression, hands together.
Then I heard police cars approaching from a distance, and that felt horrible. I couldn't shake off the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach because I knew that these sirens were coming for my friends. I had a fleeting hope that maybe, just maybe, they might not have had time to get the chains on properly. Which would mean the whole thing would be over. And we could all go home.
But things aren't as simple as that.
You have to stand up for what you believe in. You have to get your voice heard. Sometimes it takes a little nudge to make anybody listen. Sometimes it takes more direct action.
Step four: Wait
The police seemed quite unperturbed. They helped us get the traffic moving again. They put up a “POLICE – ROAD CLOSED” sign, which made everything official. It's a protest, they explained calmly. Even the most defiant drivers were gone in a couple of minutes.
I took the opportunity at this restored calm to have a proper look behind me and see what was going on. I was gobsmacked to see the world's biggest energy bill standing just a few metres away. It was huge! It looked incredible.
After that, not very many interesting things happened. A lot of talking, I think. Centrica decided not to make a big fuss of the situation and nobody was arrested. We stayed there all day and achieved our objective.
A lot of people driving by beeped their horns and gave us the thumbs up. We were happy to chat to anyone who asked who we were and what we were doing. We're Greenpeace, we said. And we're here to tell Centrica to get off the gas and invest in renewables. Perhaps you would like to do the same?
Send a message to Sam Laidlaw:
http://act.greenpeace.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=18&ea.campaign.id=14382
Read more about our NVDA against Centrica:
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/centrica-are-still-20120502
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