Former “Save the Botanical Gardens” protester Lisa Vickers has no regrets about spending three hours under arrest in a Dutch Police station after taking part in a day of action across Europe to highlight global warming.

And she believes fellow Bermudians should also be prepared to take non-violent affirmative action in protesting things they feel most passionate about.

Mrs. Vickers was part of a team of Greenpeace activists who blocked an Amsterdam coal port by chaining themselves to three cargo cranes in order to prevent a shipment of coal from being offloaded.

Last year she oversaw the running of the Save the Gardens website and played a leading role in the protests on Island calling for Government not to build a replacement hospital in the middle of the Botanical Gardens. That protest eventually succeeded with new Health Minister Nelson Bascome announcing in November the Gardens would not be used for the new hospital.

Mrs. Vickers has had an association with international action group Greenpeace for a number of years and moved to Amsterdam to take up a full-time position with the organisation.

This week she found herself in the thick of the action after taking part in a peaceful demonstration at the port to demand the new Netherlands’ Government pledge to stop new coal-fired power plants being built. Elsewhere across Europe there were shows of support for action to halt climate change. In Paris the lights on the Eiffel Tower in Paris were switched off.

The Greenpeace protest at the Amsterdam port delayed the unloading of a ship carrying 33,750 tonnes of coal.

Mrs. Vickers and around 30 other Greenpeace activists took part in the action, which resulted in three cranes being climbed by groups of protestors who chained themselves near the top to ensure they could not be used.

The protest lasted until the end of the day when a court order was passed that threatened the protesters with a [EURO]200,000 ($259,000) fine unless they climbed down and ended the action. Once back on the ground Mrs. Vickers and a number of her colleagues were taken to a Police station and kept in the cells for three hours before being released.

“We had disabled the entire facility within about 15 minutes,” said Mrs. Vickers as she described the day.

“Being so high up on the crane was quite scary. For me keeping my balance became the greatest challenge since the more I thought about it the dizzier I got and the less balanced I felt. We had railings to hold onto but I still didn’t feel that safe — just being so high above the ground with slippery surfaces to walk on and not a lot to stop us falling over the sides.

“We stayed locked to the crane for about eight hours, looking over the river with the Arctic Sunrise (Greenpeace boat) and the Police going back and forth all day. It was cold but I had many layers on so I only noticed it in my toes, which seemed to have frozen by night fall.”

Following the passing of the court order the protest ended.

Mrs. Vickers said: “After a short ride to the Police station with another team of crane blockers we were searched and told to leave all our belongings in a box and then I was taken to a cell with all the other females from the action.

“Every time the Police opened the hatch to tell us something I asked them for cheese toasties and they laughed but then half an hour later we were served all kinds of snacks including bread and cheese and tea.

“They also put the TV on for us. I was interviewed by a Policeman but since I had the right to remain silent I didn’t answer his questions and didn’t sign a statement. I was released along with 20 other fellow activists just before midnight. We gathered outside the station waiting to be picked up by Greenpeace folks. Everyone had huge grins on their faces. It had been a great action and we were so happy that we didn’t have to spend the night in jail.”

She told the Royal Gazette: “It was for a really good cause and it put an exclamation mark under what I believe in. I feel passionately about climate change and getting arrested to protest that was just part of that. We got arrested for trespassing but it was always a peaceful protest and non-violent.”

Asked if she thought Bermudians should take such affirmative action in protests here, she replied: “Bermuda needs more of this sort of thing. We only broke small laws, such as disabling the cranes for a while. I would not want anyone to put anyone’s lives at risks. It must always be non-violent. If you support a good cause sometimes you have to break some laws. But I would do not condone (wanton) law-breaking. People have to speak out on things they believe in.”

Whether the Greenpeace action will have any bearing on the new Dutch Government remains to be seen. Over the weekend a coalition Government was still being negotiated by a number of the country’s political parties, following inconclusive elections last November .