Oil industry firm 'gags protesters'

Environmental campaigners have accused an oil industry firm of obtaining a court order to prevent them revealing any details of emergency spill plans.

More than 60 Greenpeace campaigners targeted the offices of Scottish oil company Cairn Energy in response to its oil drilling operations in the Arctic, to search for documents outlining the firm's planned response to any oil spill that may occur in the region.

Dressed as polar bears, they stormed the Edinburg headquarters but now claim that Cairn has obtained a "wide-ranging gagging-order", obliging protesters to withdrawn any Facebook updates, Tweets or pictures posted online during the incident.

The executive director of Greenpeace UK, John Sauven said that Cairn Energy was using its "legal muscle" to impinge on the group's important freedom of expression.

According to the Scotsman, ten women and seven men appeared in court yesterday (July 19th) in response to charges relating to the protest at the headquarters.