Kronos Star
POK Protest at GAStech Headquarters Ends in Arrests
Marcella Trapani
18 February 2009

ABILA, Kronos - Dozens of protesters attending a Protectors of Kronos (POK) rally in front of the GAStech regional headquarters in Abila were arrested for trespassing this morning.  The POK rally was intended to draw attention to their claims of environmental damage being caused by the development of gas and oil fields around Kronos by foreign corporations like GAStech.  About two hundred people gathered in front of the GAStech building chanting slogans and waving signs that held the visages of people who have allegedly died due to environmental contamination.  Ten of the protestors chained themselves to the doors of the building in an attempt to prevent GAStech employees from going to work.

Police spokesman Adrien Carman said, "We allowed the group some latitude with their rally, but when GAStech complained that the protestors were blocking entrance to their building, we had to take action.  The last thing we wanted to happen was for a GAStech employee to get hurt by the crowd just because he was trying to go to work."

The POK, once a small political activist group of citizens from the Elodis area, has been revitalization under the charismatic leadership of Elian Karel.  Government spokesman Rufus Drymiau said of today's POK rally, "We have been concerned by a pattern of increasingly aggressive tactics by the Protectors of Kronos for some time now. In light of today's incident, President Kapelou has ordered the police to provide additional protection for the public at future POK rallys."


