Woman shot dead during protest at transnationals' offices

One woman was shot dead on Thursday in Nigeria’s southern oil town of Warri when groups of women protesters besieged the premises of oil transnationals Royal/Dutch Shell and ChevronTexaco, witnesses said.

They said two groups of women numbering about 2,000 each from the nearby Itsekiri and Ijaw communities arrived at the entrances of the regional offices of both companies early in the morning, denying employees access. They carried placards denouncing environmental pollution which they blamed on the companies.

"At the entrance to Shell’s office a policeman shot dead one woman as they were driving us away," Teresa Ginibo, one of the protesters, told IRIN.

Shell said in a statement that the protesters at its premises were wives of the company’s contract employees who demanded improved conditions of service.

"The picketing, it is believed, follows from one held last month by contractor-staff drivers over welfare demands," the statement signed by company spokesman Donald Boham said. It added that efforts were on to resolve the dispute.

There was no official comment from ChevronTexaco on the presence of the protesters at its premises.

There has been an upsurge in protests led by women in Nigeria’s volatile but impoverished Niger Delta since groups of women protesters occupied several facilities of Chevron-Texaco last month, demanding jobs for their children and husbands, amenities and micro-credit facilities.