Update following Olympic Greenwash Gold award ceremony at Trafalgar Square (see original PR below)

Protesters target Rio Tinto AGM

Protesters target Rio Tinto AGM

Image by EOR Photography

Police have handcuffed and arrested eight people following a performance of a ceremony awarding gold medals to the 'worst' corporate sponsors of the Olympics at Trafalgar Square. (see original press release below)

The culmination of the ceremony involved green custard being poured over the heads of three company representatives of Dow Chemical, BP and Rio Tinto. There is speculation that the arrests may relate to small quantities of green custard being spilt during the ceremony.

Kevin Smith of London MIning Network said:

"It's ridiculously heavy handed policing to arrest people for public theatre. The authorities are going to extreme lengths to protect the tarnished reputations of controversial Olympic sponsors like Dow, BP and Rio Tinto."

Olympic sponsors ‘slimed’ in Trafalgar Square

Greenwash Gold winners have green slime poured over them in awards ceremony

The winners of the Greenwash Gold 2012 awards were announced today in Trafalgar Square, with representatives of BP, Dow Chemical and Rio Tinto having ‘green slime’ poured over them at the climax of the ceremony.

People in suits, bearing the logos of the three companies, stood on a podium and accepted the medals from a man wearing an outsize papier mache head of Sebastian Coe. A bottle of green slime was poured over the head of each company representative, to symbolize the ‘greenwashing’ that was taking place with Olympic sponsorship. The ceremony was compered by Meredith Alexander, the ex ‘Olympics ethics csar’ who resigned over controversies surrounding Olympic sponsors.

Over the course of three months, thousands have watched online animations and voted for who they thought was the worst corporate sponsor to be associated with the Olympics. Although Rio Tinto received the most votes, with BP and Dow Chemical coming second and third respectively, gold medals were awarded to all three of the companies to reflect the fact that it was impossible to judge between the enormity of environmental and social impacts that they were responsible for.

Richard Solly of London Mining Network said:

“It’s disgraceful that the Olympic medals are provided by Rio Tinto when they are responsible for such a string of international environmental and human rights controversies. These cannot be the most sustainable games ever when something as crt as the medals have been sourced so irresponsibly.”

Emily Coats of UK Tar Sands Network said:

“BP is one of the least sustainable companies on the planet and has no right to pander to the public with its ironic title of London 2012 'Sustainability Partner'. Behind this distracting veneer the company has destroyed the Gulf of Mexico, is plunging into the highly-destructive Alberta tar sands, and is hurtling us towards catastrophic climate change. We're glad to see BP's crass greenwash effort recognised and appropriately rewarded."

Colin Toogood of the Bhopal Medical Appeal said:

“Dow Chemical still refuse to present their subsidiary Union Carbide to the Indian courts where they face CRIMINAL charges for the culpable homicide of thousands of Indian people and, for that, they richly deserve their GreenwashGold medal.”

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