Four members of the environmental group Greenpeace left an oil rig off the Scottish coast today after a British court ordered that they cease a sit-in protest against global warming, the group said.
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Campaigners off the oil rig
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Two protesters remaining on the rig would leave later in the day, a spokesman for the group said. The activists had boarded the platform, which is not currently operating, early yesterday.
"It's outrageous that these companies go scurrying off to the courts rather than facing the consequences of their actions," Greenpeace spokesman Mr Rob Gueterbock said.
"It's them that should be taken to court, not us," he added, speaking from the nearby support vessel MV Greenpeace.
The protesters had been holed up in a survival capsule which they secured on the underside of the rig, owned by oil and gas production group BG International.
They had spray-painted "Oil Kills" on to one of the legs.
"We want to stop BG from opening up this new oil field. We hope to stop this oil company from operating out here for as long as we can because oil is killing people and flooding homes," Mr Gueterbock said.
The latest protest comes days after 17 Greenpeace activists were arrested following a similar demonstration on another oil platform in the North Sea.
AFP