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The Clash’s Paul Simonon reveals he was arrested and jailed in Greenland

Bassist went undercover on behalf of environmental charity Greenpeace

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Paul Simonon, former bassist with The Clash and current member of The Good, The Bad & The Queen, has revealed that he was arrested and jailed in June this year by police in Greenland.

Simonon was locked up after he joined 17 other Greenpeace activists in storming an oil rig as part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness about oil drilling and its consequences. You can watch a video of Simonon talking about his experiences by scrolling down to the bottom of the page and clicking.

The bassist, under an assumed identity, had previously spent a number of weeks working as an assistant cook on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza before he agreed to join the raid.

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During the raid, he and the other activists boarded the Cairn oil rig and demanded to be given details of the rig’s oil spill response plan, which they had refused to make public. When the rig’s managers refused, the protesters said they would not leave, at which point the police were called and Simonon and the other activists were arrested and locked up. They were released later in the summer.

Simonon performed as part of The Good, The Bad & The Queen last Thursday (November 10) in the first gig aboard Greenpeace boat The Rainbow Warrior in the middle of the Thames. The show was the band’s first for three years.

Latest music and film news on Uncut.co.uk.

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Uncut have teamed up with Sonic Editions to curate a number of limited-edition framed iconic rock photographs, featuring the likes of Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan and The Clash. View the full collection here.

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