Activists Who Scaled Shell's Arctic-Bound Oil Rig Refuse to Leave Despite Legal Threats

Six Greenpeace activists who scaled a Shell ship defy injunction against them.

“The injunction is just the latest intimidation tactic on the part of Shell,” Aliyah Field, one of the six activists on board the ship, told ABC News through a satellite phone connection.

“We’re not going anywhere,” Field said.

A federal judge heard Shell's request for a temporary restraining order against the volunteer activists this evening in Anchorage, and said a ruling would be forthcoming in one or two days, according to Greenpeace.

“Boarding a moving vessel on the high seas is extremely dangerous and jeopardizes the safety of all concerned,” Shell officials said in a statement released Tuesday, calling the protest a “stunt.”

“We’re here to highlight that in less than 100 days Shell is going to the Arctic to drill for oil,” Johno Smith, one of the six activists on board the ship said in a statement on Monday.

“This pristine environment needs protecting for future generations and all life that will call it home,” he said.

The activists boarded the Blue Marlin, a transport ship carrying a 712 foot oil rig called the Polar Pioneer, at dawn on Monday morning, running up alongside the moving vessel in a small inflatable boat and scaling the side of the ship with ropes and ladders.

“These acts are far from peaceful demonstrations,” Shell said in a statement.

The group currently on board the Polar Pioneer is camped on a catwalk on the rig, and is receiving supplies such as food, blankets and camera batteries from the Esperanza, a Greenpeace ship floating nearby. The activists maintain that they are not interfering with drilling, navigation systems or any ship operations and that the crew of the ship has not made direct contact with them.

“We’re simply here to send a clear message to Shell that they are not welcome in the arctic,” Field said.