Code Red activists blockade several TotalEnergies sites

Activists from campaign group Code Red have staged a demonstration in which they blocked TotalEnergies sites in Belgium, aiming to raise awareness about the company's "polluting and extractivist activities".

The blockades took place over the weekend at the TotalEnergies site in Feluy (Hainaut) and on one located on the outskirts of the port of Antwerp. On Monday, the group also protested in front of TotalEnergies' Belgian headquarters in Brussels.

“In the midst of the climate crisis, TotalEnergies is continuing to expand its destructive activities,” the environmental organisation said.

“It's absurd. The fossil fuel industry is making record profits year after year, at our expense. All over the world, ordinary people are being forced to face the consequences of the ecological and social crisis caused by their activities.”

The aim of the action was to bring operations at the TotalEnergies site in Feluy to a standstill, condemning “the choices made by these companies and their political leaders”.

The organisation also admonished the large-scale police mobilisation in the run-up to the demonstration: “Since Friday, large-scale identity checks have been taking place in stations and metro stations throughout Belgium.

"During the night of Friday to Saturday, activists were also followed in various places by the police, and a handful of people were arrested as a preventative measure."

Supporters of the movement were also targeted in advance with letters threatening legal action.

On Saturday morning, however, the majority of participants managed to reach the sites of the actions, where they blocked rail routes used by freight trains to transport fossil fuels to and from the TotalEnergies site, as well as a strategic roundabout and several entrances.

In its press release, Code Red said that “the aim of the action was to bring TotalEnergies’ activities to a complete halt”.

The organisation estimates that 270 participants, including journalists and lawyers, were taken into administrative detention, though police provided no figures of their own.

The action ended at about 11.30 on Sunday and police said there were no incidents of disorder.

Code Red describes itself as "a civil disobedience movement targeting the fossil fuel industry, created by activists and supported by various organisations and action groups. The movement blocks the activities of the fossil fuel and aviation industries in order to put an end to their polluting activities and the systemic exploitation of living beings."