More than 100 Met police were drafted in to protect a high level government-sponsored conference on the "carve up" of Iraqi oilfields.
Bemused commuters looked on as roads around the Paddington Hilton were cordonned off. Scores of police and riot vans surrounded 60 demonstrators dressed as pirates aboard a makeshift galleon denounced the "pillage" of Iraqi oil by executives from Shell, Exxon Mobile, BP and Halliburton. Some protestors scuffled with police as they tried to storm the meeting, and two fought their way in before being bundled out by security, though no arrests were made. The Met and the Hilton declined to comment.
Anarchists? Think again.
Hani Lazim, an Iraqi from Kirkuk, said Iraqis would resist attempts to sell their resources abroad. "It took Iraqi people over 50 years to reclaim their oil industry. Now the grubby hands have come in again. The war was waged, bringing malnutrition and disease. They won't dare take even a barrel of Iraqi oil."
So, who exactly were Shell, Exxon Mobile, BP, and Halliburton meeting with to "carve up" the spoils?
Inside, executives began two days of discussions with senior officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil.
In other words, Ahmed Chalabi and company.
Still, you'd think they'd hold off on the carve up summits until this running list of 244 attacks slows down.
Just this June makes you wonder how they know what hasn't already been carved up.
237. June 3 - 8 a.m. attack on pipeline between Kirkuk and the Dibis refinery, about 30 miles west.
238. June 8 - saboteurs blew up a main oil pipeline near Kirkuk.
239. June 8 - saboteurs opened connections between two pipelines near the Bayji refinery causing oil spill.
240. June 9 - 8:00 p.m. saboteurs blew up a major oil pipeline five miles east of the Bayji refinery.
241. June 15 - insurgents blew up a pipeline near Baghdad that transports crude oil between Bayji and Daura.
242. June 23 - attack on pipeline carrying crude from Kirkuk to Bayji, near al-Fathah.
243. June 25 - attack on oil pipleline leading from Kirkuk to Ceyhan.
244. June 24 - pipeline linking the southern fields around Basra to Daura. The attack took place near Yusifiyah.
-- Zap
ps. Where's that profiteering category?
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