Existential Yoga Protesters

The Corrib gas field lies 80km west of Belmullet, off the north west coast of Ireland. Shell Oil and Gas Plc are operators for the field, which has been surrounded by controversy because of some dodgy licencing agreements from the not-so-transparent period of Irish government. There's an active protest group called Shell to Sea attempting to halt the works, with the goal of either reclaiming the gas as a national asset, or putting a complete halt to the project. The protesters haven't had much success, mostly because they've been lying down in the road and going kayaking, rather than trying to become elected politicians or influence Irish politics in any meaningful way.

It's been a source of really bizarre news for the west of Ireland. Like that time there were allegations of special forces teams sinking a man's fishing boat, or that time the protest group was infiltrated by a British spy.

Sometimes Shell to Sea organise 'lock-ons', which involve cementing two people's arms together in the middle of a road or in front of a gate-way.

Art and Craft skills as well. Those years in college weren't a waste so.

Because they have nothing better for doing, the protesters busy themselves by doing yoga in the road. The guards love this. Their favourite part of their job is when they get antagonised.

The Guards love it, really

"How can the world be at peace, if we're not at peace with ourselves!?"

With the road already closed, the protesters weren't blocking anything. This made the Gardaí angry. Not being able to give out to hippies is probably the worst part about the job, so they imagined up some imaginary traffic so they could arrest the protesters for obstructing a public road.

There's something intrinsically undermining about only having one glove on

"But officer, why do we even exist?"

There are so many important existential theories that could be discussed in this forum of protest and power. In another video related to the same project, a protester videotapes a Garda who is videotaping the protesters.

Will there be an infinite video loop? Does time slow down in between the two video cameras?

Also, check out that bad-ass moustache

Eventually, the specialist cutting team show up to ruin the protesters' fun. There's an arms-race between the protesters and the Gardaí. The protesters aren't just using poured concrete, but are mixing pieces of iron through the concrete and heavy duty chains to strengthen the bond. The Gardaí cut it eventually, it just takes longer and requires a bit more skill.

The Guards could just chop the protesters' arms off but they don't coz they're secretly dead sound 

Part of me thinks that the protesters are in the right. They're standing up for a better arrangement to be made for the licencing agreements and that Ireland could really gain from changing its corporate tax laws for the businesses involved in natural resource extraction. Then the other part of me thinks "God, I can't take anyone with a moustache seriously".

Then the tent gets set up for the cutting team to go about their business and it's closing time for the protesters.

They put up the tent to block the view of other protesters. It's done to limit the intelligence gathering opportunity for onlookers. If you knew what process the Guards were using to cut the concrete you'd make it harder the next time. It's kind of redundant though, because the people getting cut out remember the process and tell their friends for the next time.

A Great Day Out was had by all

The full, original video can be viewed here.