BP Lunch-time Demonstrations - 7th and 21st September 2001 (and silent vigil on 14th September) On 7th September, BP's Head Office at Finsbury Circus was roused from its self-satisfied stupor by an energetic group of 11 of us from the Vigil. Malcolm's booming voice can fill a stadium unaided - feed it through the hailer and it becomes a sonic boom. Plenty of people that day heard us call on BP to stop supporting the rape of Tibet's resources and put "Tibet first, profits last". BP's announcement that morning that they had pulled out of the bidding for a stake in PetroChina's new East-West pipeline (west to east more like) cut no ice with us. What was there to celebrate when their existing $560 million investment in PetroChina remained unchanged? Yet again BP has made a vain attempt to project their image as the "good guys" of the dirty oil industry. On 14th September, there was a memorial service held for the victims of the terror attacks in the US, and so the police asked us to postpone our planned vigil, since all City police were needed for security at St Paul's. Two people we were unable to reach joined me for the 2 hours, and we also had a very welcome surprise visit from Amsterdam's Tibet Support Group who were in London that week. We held a very reflective vigil in the crisp autumn sunshine. This time we didn't shout. We didn't even have banners. We handed out flyers and found most people to be very open and receptive after the horror only 3 days before. We were glad we were there on that particular day, peacefully yet actively demonstrating against another form of terrorism in the world - the terrorism enacted by China in Tibet, which BP continues to support.  A week later, on 21st September, the postponed vigil was supported by a skeleton crew of Patricia and Paula, with the warmly welcomed addition of Carlos at the end. The duty policeman seemed surprised we were back. "But I thought they'd pulled out of PetroChina?" he asked quizzically. The BP propaganda had obviously worked on him. We put up all our banners and enlarged our small presence by leafleting the passers-by. On a day when the news was full of plans for violent retaliation for 11th September, our message was timely: "The Tibetan people are rare indeed in never having used violence against their brutal 50 year occupation by China. Without the vital support of governments such as our own in the UK, this has left them open to shameless exploitation, not just by China, but more recently by western companies greedily anxious to raid Tibet's rich resources. BP is one such unscrupulous company, and despite protests from Tibet groups around the world, have maintained their $560 million investment in PetroChina. . . . BP does not give a damn about the suffering caused to the Tibetan and Uighur peoples. All they care about is getting their hands on the rich pickings of the expanding Chinese market. So what is BP? Beyond Petroleum or Beyond Principles?" - Paula, for the Vigil