14 DAY TRIAL // One would think that after 30 of its members and supporters were arrested and put behind bars for several weeks, Greenpeace was done protesting Gazprom and its plans to drill in the Arctic. It turns out this is by no means the case.
Just yesterday, the organization took another swing at the oil and gas giant, and the Champions League ended up being a collateral victim.
Long story short, three games taking place in various parts of the world were crashed by Greenpeace activists who weren't as much interested in what was happening on the football field as they were in how many people were reading their anti-Gazprom banners.
As detailed on the organization's official website, the three Champions League games that were crashed by environmentalists were as follows: the match between Austria Vienna and Zenit St. Petersburg in the Austrian capital, the match played on Naples' San Paolo stadium between the home team and Arsenal, and Galatasaray's game against Juventus in Istanbul.
“Gazprom do not foul the Arctic,” read the banner the Greenpeace activists rolled out at the first of these matches. The banner unveiled in Naples said “Gazprom quit the Arctic,” and the one put on display in Istanbul had “Kick Gazprom out of the Arctic” written across it.
In case anyone was wondering why Greenpeace saw fit to protest Gazprom's plans to drill in the Arctic during these three League matches, here is the answer: not only are these games watched by millions of people – hence loads of publicity for the organization and its message, – but the oil and gas giant also happens to be one of the League's top sponsors.
“Gazprom is using football's mass appeal and glamor to try to clean up its image, while behind the scenes it's threatening one of the most fragile environments on earth with irreparable devastation,” explains Ben Ayliffe, head of the Greenpeace Arctic campaign. “It's not a matter of whether an oil spill disaster will happen, but when,” he adds.
This series of protests is part and parcel of a Greenpeace campaign that aims to convince world leaders to ban drilling in the Arctic and establish a sanctuary around the North Pole.