By Marian Smith, msnbc.com
LONDON - "It's humiliating! They treated us like we were criminals," said Tracy Kuhns, who had traveled from Barataria Bay, La. to attend BP's annual shareholder meeting in London on Thursday.
She and her husband, Michael Roberts, had made the long trip with three other Gulf Coast residents hoping to address BP shareholders about their ongoing plight almost one year after the catastrophic oil spill began on April 20, 2010. But even with their proxy cards in hand, which they believed would allow their participation in the shareholders meeting, all five Gulf Coasters were denied entry.
"They asked us where we were from, we said Louisiana, and they said you can't go in," Kuhns told msnbc.com outside the massive Excel Center convention hall in east London. She described how the guards had lowered a metal security gate to stop them from entering the event.
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One woman from their contingent, Diane Wilson from Seadrift, Texas, didn't even get that far – after smearing black paint on herself at the convention center's entrance, she was promptly arrested by police.
For Kuhns and Roberts, however, it wasn't about protesting. "We wanted to tell the shareholders that all is not well in the Gulf of Mexico," explained Roberts, despite what BP says about the clean-up effort being a success. Before the oil spill he made a good living catching shrimp, crabs and fish, but today his family is living off the money he earned from Vessels of Opportunity, the program that paid local boats to help with the clean-up. "And that's about to run out," he said.
Roberts said he was frustrated by BP's claims process, which he says wasn't compensating people adequately. "From my $100,000 claim, they gave me $6,000," he said. "We thought they would take care of us."
MORE:
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/14/6471263-gulf-residents-at-bp-meeting-we-were-treated-like-criminals?GT1=43001
LONDON - "It's humiliating! They treated us like we were criminals," said Tracy Kuhns, who had traveled from Barataria Bay, La. to attend BP's annual shareholder meeting in London on Thursday.
She and her husband, Michael Roberts, had made the long trip with three other Gulf Coast residents hoping to address BP shareholders about their ongoing plight almost one year after the catastrophic oil spill began on April 20, 2010. But even with their proxy cards in hand, which they believed would allow their participation in the shareholders meeting, all five Gulf Coasters were denied entry.
"They asked us where we were from, we said Louisiana, and they said you can't go in," Kuhns told msnbc.com outside the massive Excel Center convention hall in east London. She described how the guards had lowered a metal security gate to stop them from entering the event.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One woman from their contingent, Diane Wilson from Seadrift, Texas, didn't even get that far – after smearing black paint on herself at the convention center's entrance, she was promptly arrested by police.
For Kuhns and Roberts, however, it wasn't about protesting. "We wanted to tell the shareholders that all is not well in the Gulf of Mexico," explained Roberts, despite what BP says about the clean-up effort being a success. Before the oil spill he made a good living catching shrimp, crabs and fish, but today his family is living off the money he earned from Vessels of Opportunity, the program that paid local boats to help with the clean-up. "And that's about to run out," he said.
Roberts said he was frustrated by BP's claims process, which he says wasn't compensating people adequately. "From my $100,000 claim, they gave me $6,000," he said. "We thought they would take care of us."
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MORE:
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/14/6471263-gulf-residents-at-bp-meeting-we-were-treated-like-criminals?GT1=43001
