Protesters briefly seize Gore's San Francisco headquarters

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Demonstrators protesting Al Gore's family investments in Occidental Petroleum Corp. briefly took over his San Francisco campaign headquarters on Thursday, saying Gore was doing nothing to stop the destruction of ancestral South American Indian lands.

Alex Tourk, a spokesman for the Gore presidential campaign, said about 30 protesters thronged into the headquarters demanding a meeting with the vice president about Occidental's plans to drill for oil on land claimed by the U'wa Indian tribe in northeastern Colombia.

"They pushed volunteers to get in and chained themselves to our tables and our phone bank," Tourk told Reuters.

Police arrived shortly afterward and arrested about 14 of the demonstrators, police spokesman Sherman Ackerson said.

"The fire department came and cut the locks on them one by one, and one by one they were arrested for trespass," he said.

The 5,000-member U'wa tribe drew attention to its cause by vowing to commit collective suicide by walking off a cliff if Occidental proceeded with its drilling plans. Tribe members believe the land is sacred.

Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee, reported in his public financial disclosure in May that his family's shares in Occidental were valued at between $500,000 and $1 million.

The shares were left by his father, former Sen. Albert Gore Sr. Gore campaign officials say the vice president cannot sell the Occidental stock because he does not own it. The shares are in a trust for his mother, Pauline.

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