Six people have been arrested after occupying the lobby to BP’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, ahead of the fifth anniversary of the explosion and oil spill which devastated the Gulf of Mexico. On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, killing 11 workers and triggering the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. Among those arrested Wednesday were Cherri Foytlin from South Louisiana.

Cherri Foytlin: “I have seen with my own eyes the devastation that this spill has caused and continues to cause to this day This disaster is not over. We have oil that continues to run into our marshes and on our beaches. Our dolphins and turtle continue to wash in dead at higher rates than normal in the longest mortality events in the recorded history of the Gulf of Mexico. But what I’m mainly concerned about is the toxic dispersants they used during the spill, that has caused a grave health issue for the people in the Gulf. I’ve seen children who are sick. In the early days we had rashes and respiratory problems, but now it’s moved into cancers, very aggressive cancers. In parts of where I live in Louisiana, just south of us in Plaquemines Parish, they say they’re burying about a person a week.”

Protesters say the action is one of several planned for the lead-up to the spill’s anniversary, including an action today outside BP’s annual shareholder meeting in London.