Rainforest protesters storm factory

12 April 2012

More than 50 demonstrators, some dressed as orang-utans, staged protests at two Unilever sites to highlight the destruction of the rainforest.

The two Greenpeace groups stormed a Unilever factory in Port Sunlight, the Wirral, Merseyside, and scaled ladders on to a balcony at Unilever House on Victoria Embankment, in London.

Campaigners claimed to have "stopped production" of some of Unilever's products at the plant in the Wirral.

Sarah Shoraka, a Greenpeace Campaigner at the protest in the Wirral, said: "This is the start of a really big campaign. We want Unilever to stop trading with companies that destroy the rainforest to supply palm oil used to make cleaning products.

"They buy from suppliers who are trashing rainforest areas and habitats for orang-utans. These areas should really be protected.

"Some of the people here are chained to machinery and we have stopped production for some brands. We will stay here as long as possible before we are moved."

A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said: "We were called by the company at 6.45am. We are aware of the protest and we are assessing the circumstances."

James Turner, a spokesman for Greenpeace at the Victoria Embankment protest, said eight people dressed as orang-utans had climbed ladders on to a seven-metre high balcony above the entrance of Unilever House.

He said: "It is going fairly well. We have got a lot of staff to talk to and a lot did not know about the destruction of the rainforest. Companies supplying palm oil are destroying the habitats of orang-utans and massively accelerating climate change."

Mr Turner said the protests coincided with a report released by Greenpeace on Monday called Burning Up Borneo. He said the report showed how companies that supplied Unilever with palm oil were destroying the rainforest in Indonesia.

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