Posted on March 16, 2008

24 Arrested at Chevron Protest

Demonstration Against Iraq war, Plant Upgrade 'Controlled and Orderly'

By Tom Lochner and Mike Taugher
STAFF WRITERS

RICHMOND -- Two dozen people were arrested peacefully outside the Bay Area's largest oil refinery late Saturday at the end of a daylong protest aimed at the war in Iraq and a planned upgrade of the plant.

"Chevron is profiting at the expense of people you love, who live in this community," Sean O'Brien of Berkeley shouted, shortly before he was arrested, to some 50 helmeted Richmond police and California Highway Patrol officers who formed a human barricade between the protesters and the Richmond refinery.

"Polluting the community -- think about whether that's right," O'Brien continued. "Think about whether it's just."

The protesters were taken to the city jail, where they were booked on suspicion of misdemeanor trespassing, said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan. He said they would be released if they had valid identification. By 8 p.m., most of the 24 arrestees had been released with a notice to appear in court as processing of the rest continued, Gagan said.

Three other people were cited for infractions, Gagan said -- two for climbing up light standards to hang a banner and one for using an amplified public address system without a permit.

The protest, sponsored by a group of environmental and antiwar groups, by and large was "controlled and orderly," and organizers and police communicated well throughout it, Gagan said.

Although the protest was billed as an attempt to blockade the Richmond refinery, Chevron said operations there were unaffected.