Greenpeace protest staged at Gazprom gas station in Romania’s Arad

The employees of the Gazprom gas station in the city of Arad in Western Romania didn’t expect to make headlines for something their company is planning to do more than 4,000 kilometers away, in the company’s home country Russia.

A group of 15 Greenpeace activists from Romania, Hungary and Austria gathered Saturday morning at the gas station to protest for three hours against the Russian gas company’s plan to begin oil production in the Arctic region.

They also demanded the release of the 28 Greenpeace protesters, a photographer and a cameraman charged in September in Russia.

Four of the protesters in Arad made their way up to the roof of the gas station holding a banner with the “Free the Arctic 30” English inscription and another one with “Gazprom = destruction of Antarctica” written in Romanian language.

The others stood near the entrance with signs reading “Stop Gazprom” and “Free our activists”.

They also mounted a lying black barrel with the logo of the Russian company and black material around it symbolizing oil spill.

Doina Danciu from Greenpeace Romania said their colleagues in Russia are imprisoned because “they protested peacefully against oil drilling in Antarctica, which is dangerous because contributes to environmental destruction”.

The people who were passing by near the gas station in Arad turned their heads and some stopped to read the signs.

Although Gazprom has 12 gas stations countrywide, protesters said this was the only manifestation in Romania for this cause organized by Greenpeace.

The environmental organizations said in a statement that the protest was part of a global action held Saturday in 222 cities from 41 countries.

Romanian Police and Gendarmerie observed the protest but did not intervene. At the end, they asked protesters to identify themselves and because they did not have an authorization, seven of them were fined with 500 RON (112 EUR) each.