14 DAY TRIAL // This past Thursday, armed Russian officials raided a Greenpeace ship dubbed the Arctic Sunrise and held the activists aboard it at gunpoint. Eventually, they arrested them.
Information shared with the public says that the Russian officials raided the Arctic Sunrise in an attempt to keep the Greenpeace members from protesting Russian oil company Gazprom by boarding one of its oil platforms in the Pechora Sea in the Russian Arctic.
Presently, workers aboard this oil platform are looking to drill for oil in said region. The Greenpeace activists, who strongly oppose drilling in the Arctic, have already staged a protest against their plans.
Thus, it was only this past Wednesday when two greenheads attempted to scale the oil platform. They were caught and arrested by Russian coastguards.
The Arctic Sunrise's raid occurred in the aftermath of this incident, Daily Mail tells us.
According to the same source, some 15 Russian officials came to arrest the activists. They used helicopters to reach the ship, and then lowered themselves on board using ropes.
The Greenpeace members initially sought refuge in one of the ship's compartments. However, they soon found themselves on the deck, with guns pointed at their heads.
“This is pretty terrifying. Loud banging. Screaming in Russian. They're still trying to kick in the door,” the activists tweeted. “Latest from the deck: Crew are sitting on their knees on the helipad with guns pointed at them,” they added shortly after.
The activists say that, although nobody has been hurt and spirits are “high,” the fact remains that they are no longer in control of the ship.
Greenpeace argues that, at the time of the raid, the Arctic Sunrise was sailing in international waters. Therefore, the Russian officials had no business arresting them.
Environmentalists and ordinary folks who share the organization's views on the incident have gathered in front of Russian embassies around the world, and are now protesting the raid.
Kumi Naidoo, the organization's executive director, is asking that President Vladimir Putin intervene immediately and free the activists.
“This illegal boarding of a peaceful protest ship highlights the extreme lengths that the Russian government will go to to keep Gazprom's dangerous Arctic drilling away from public scrutiny.”
“We ask President Putin to restrain the coast guard and order them to holster their guns and withdraw. We are a peaceful organisation and our protest has done nothing to warrant this level of aggression,” he said in a statement.
President Putin is yet to answer this plea, so stay tuned for more information.