SHAC Shakedown City Investors
imc-uk-features | 01.03.2009 22:25 | SHAC | Animal Liberation
On Friday 27th February around 300 campaigners from around the country, and from around the world, traveled for a loud and vibrant march and demonstration in the capital against the financial supporters of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the largest and most exposed vivisection laboratory in Europe.
With HLS’ share price now the lowest in four years, the unjust incarceration of SHAC campaigners and the latest footage of monkeys being abused inside HLS’ labs, angry, passionate and determined campaigners gathered at the Bank of England – the only bank in the world providing HLS with banking facilities. The day of action aimed to publicly show financial investors that anti-vivisectionists will not tolerate puppies being thrown around, monkeys being cut open alive and other innocent animals suffering in silence. The protest was part of a global week of action organised by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), with actions so far reported in London (1 | 2 | 3), Somerset, Cambridge, Netherlands, Italy, Chile, Sweden, Poland, (1 | 2) France and Russia (Videos: 1 | 2).
First stop was HLS’ largest shareholder Barclays, which saw an impromptu banner drop from the bridge directly above the bank. Activists then moved onto more HLS and NYSE Euronext shareholders (1 | 2), the only stock exchange in the world listing the company after dropping them in 2000 and postponing their listing in 2005. Huntingdon are currently $83 million dollars in debt, without a commercial bank or insurance company in the world prepared to deal with them.
Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) are in the business of poisoning healthy animals to death. They are a contract testing operation that tests products for others. They have three sites two in the UK and one in the US. Five hundred animals are put to death every day by HLS, killing tens of thousands of horses, cats, dogs, primates, rabbits, hamsters, rats, mice and fish amongst others each year.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) was set with the sole aim of closing HLS down. The campaign was set up at the end of 1999 by a group of activists who had successfully closed down Consort kennels and Hillgrove cat farm. Both campaigns ended with the businesses closing down and hundreds of animals being safely rehomed instead of tortured in labs.
Shareholders, stockbrokers, market makers, suppliers and clients have all dumped HLS, including the world’s largest companies; all four main high street banks in the UK, the world’s largest financial institution, the world’s second largest bank and the world’s largest insurance broker. Huntingdon are $83 million dollars in debt with NO commercial bank and insurance company anywhere in the world prepared to deal with them.
HLS’ key weakness is their finances and by throwing the spotlight on those funding their abuse campaigners across the globe have managed to bring HLS to the brink of financial collapse. Throughout the campaign activists have made financial history as one by one major corporations have yielded to protester power and severed their links with the failing company.
Campaigners use evidence obtained in seven undercover investigations at their different laboratories in the UK and USA where HLS workers have been caught on film punching puppies in the face, simulating sex with animals in their care, cutting open primates while they are still alive and falsifying experiments to get products on the market. HLS workers have even been caught drunk at work and dealing drugs at the labs.
Huntingdon Life Sciences have a criminal record from a British court of law for breaking the Companies’ Act. They are the only UK laboratory to ever have their licence revoked by the government.
Previous features: Top HLS Investors Dump Shares | HLS Exposed – Yet Again! SHAC To Shakedown Financial Investors In The City | 50 Years For The UK SHAC 7 | Anti-vivisection campaigners convicted of blackmail | Largest HLS Investor Dumps All Shares | SHAC Prepares For National March & Rally | Victory for animal rights campaigners | Activist Imprisoned for Shouting | Fisher Scientific Embarrassed Over Links with HLS | SHAC World Day for Lab Animals | Asahi Glass Protesters Harassed by Police | “March Against the Murderers”
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