Greenpeace protest hits day two

While the wind howled and the rain lashed, protesters sat singing waiata outside an oil company’s New Plymouth office for the second day.

There were children, teenagers and retirees among the small crowd yesterday morning for the Greenpeace-organised action against Austrian-owned OMV, which is preparing to begin exploratory drilling about 50 nautical miles off the Taranaki coast.

Protesters had been on the site since 7am Monday, with many saying they were there because they cared about the planet and future and wanted to stop OMV.

One them was Magdalena Bischof, who had travelled from Austria to take part.

‘‘I’m here to protest against OMV’s plans of drilling for more oil and gas off the coast of Taranaki,’’ Bischof said.

The 25-year-old said she was ‘‘honoured’’ to be involved but called on more people to support their action.

The protesters were doing shifts, Greenpeace member Steve Abel said, as some had stayed outside the OMV office overnight, while others stayed at Parihaka in tents and on the marae.

Abel said he thought 300 people had joined the movement throughout the day on Monday, and expected more today, the final day of the protest.

‘‘People are coming and going all the time,’’ he said.

In a media release, Greenpeace’s Niamh O’Flynn said Monday night had been ‘‘challenging’’ following bad weather and two passers-by throwing bottles at protesters – one passing close over their heads.

Meanwhile, an OMV spokesman said staff were working from home again yesterday.

He said this was due to the health and safety of the 300 people.

‘‘It’s definitely a distraction,’’ he said.

‘‘But we do not want staff to be subject to any form of abuse.’’

Despite that, OMV kept the outside lights on overnight to ensure the safety of the protesters camped on the premises.

These are the protesters who have been outside oil company OMV’s New Plymouth office since 7am on Monday and were up bright and early yesterday:

Auckland’s Amalia Arbury, 15, said the climate emergency is putting her future ‘‘in jeopardy’’.

Magdalena Bischof, 25, said she travelled from Austria to protest against OMV, which is Austrian owned.

David Pate, 65, said he doesn’t know why we are exploring for oil when we cannot afford to be.

Ellie Johnston, 13, from Mount Maunganui, said she is protesting to tell OMV they have no place in Aotearoa.

New Plymouth’s Colin Bell, 73, said he is trying to stop the burning of fossil fuels.

John Tovea, 72, of Ka¯ piti, said he opposes the destruction of the planet.