24 Arrested at War Protest Outside Chevron

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 a planned upgrade of the plant and the war in Iraq.

"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 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.

"People have the power to stop the refinery any time we want to, to stop the processing of stolen Iraqi oil," said Henry Clark of the West County Toxics Coalition.

However, Chevron spokesman Dean O'Hair said the refinery's production was unaffected.

About 300 people attended the event, which included speeches, music by the Brass Liberation Orchestra, step dancing, street theater and a protest march. Protesters wielded placards linking the war in Iraq, America's avidity for oil, and health problems in Richmond. The inscriptions included, "No war, (no) warming, (no) empire," "Fight toxic racism," "End Chevron crimes from Richmond to Iraq," "Shut down Guantanamo," "Oil=Blood" and "Boycott Chevwrong 24/7."

Protesters accused Chevron of profiteering from additional access to Iraqi oil from the war and of polluting Richmond's air.

O'Hair called the link between Chevron and the war "baseless," saying the company buys crude on the global market and that it comes from multiple regions.

On Thursday, the retrofit proposal for Chevron's Richmond refinery is expected to come before the city's planning commission. That, and the fifth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, prompted the protest. Several hundred protesters attended, but the event was peaceful.

"It is time to clear the air and say no more pollution, no more war and no more lies," Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin told the crowd.

O'Brien was among a group that sat on the pavement, encircled by yellow "Global Warming Crime Scene" tape, about 35 feet inside the Chevron property line after pushing aside temporary fencing erected by police at the entrance to the refinery grounds.

More than 40 additional Richmond officers were called in to deal with the protest and all were earning overtime, Gagan said. The average hourly rate for a police officer on overtime is $65 to $70, he said.