USA: Protest fails to prevent Shell icebreaker from heading to Arctic

Greenpeace activists who had been hanging from the St. Johns Bridge in Portland for 40 hours didn't succeed in preventing Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker MSV Fennica from passing through the bridge on its way to the Arctic, Thursday. The icebreaker will transport vital equipment to the Shell Polar Pioneer rig in order to begin drilling in and around the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea. Early in the morning, environmental activists and protesters had managed to stop the ship as they blocked the Willamette River with kayaks and by hanging from the bridge. Most of them were evacuated by the police and the MSV Fennica later managed to find a gap between the remaining thirteen protesters in climber's slings. MSV Fennica arrived in Portland on Saturday for repairs after it was damaged this month in the Aleutian Islands when it hit an obstruction. A federal judge in Alaska had earlier ordered Greenpeace to pay a fine of $2,500 (€2,282) for every hour that protesters continued to block the icebreaker from leaving. Greenpeace protests against Arctic oil drilling operations as it considers it damaging for the nature. Video courtesy of: Shelby King