SHAC take their protests against HLS to the City

Anti-vivisection campaigners took their protests against animal testing company Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) to the heart of London's financial district last month. Called by Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), an international campaign to close down HLS, about 20 protesters held a series of pickets on 23 October outside the offices of some of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) shareholders, with the aim of "shaming them for their involvement in the torture of animals inside the razor wire of HLS."

In December 2006, the NYSE, which is operated by NYSE Euronext, tried to quietly slip HLS onto the newly formed NYSE Arca exchange, knowing well what goes on inside HLS. Since then, the NYSE, like other HLS customers and financial supporters, has come under intense pressure from the campaign.

Armed with megaphones and placards, the protesters' first stop was AXA, one of the world's biggest insurance companies and the second-largest shareholder in the NYSE, in addition to having 7,000 shares in HLS itself. The picket lasted for about 45 minutes before moving on to a nearby branch of Barclays. The third largest bank in the UK is the third-biggest shareholder in the NYSE and the biggest shareholder in HLS, with over 280,000 shares.

Next were the offices of Merrill Lynch, another top shareholders in the NYSE. Having bought more shares recently, the global financial services firm has over 11,000 shares in HLS itself. The finish was with Goldman Sachs, which has over 10,500 shares in HLS and is one of the top shareholders of the NYSE.

A statement published on SHAC's website said: "AXA, Barclays, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and NYSE Euronext are all compassionless, amoral and greedy companies that would profit from anything. They don't care how much suffering is caused to the animals or how absolutely useless this 'science' is. As far as these five are concerned, if there is money in it, it's something that's waiting to be 'invested' in."

Similar pickets were held in London on 28 September. The following day, 29 September, marked a global day of action against the NYSE, with protests taking place in Birmingham, Manchester, Hull, Hampshire and other places. Globally, protests and pickets were held in Washington DC, Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands and elsewhere.

A campaigner from SHAC said the days of action "were a time when everyone could concentrate on one target." He added "SHAC will keep concentrating on HLS customers, shareholders and suppliers until they realise what they're doing is wrong and must stop."

Huntingdon Life Sciences is the largest contract testing laboratory in Europe. It is also one of the most exposed in the world. In recent years, it has been infiltrated and exposed at least seven times for animal cruelty and rule-breaking. Each time, horrific evidence of animal abuse and staff incompetence has been uncovered. The company has more than 70,000 animals on site, including rabbits, cats, hamsters, dogs, guinea-pigs, birds and monkeys.

The first of two cases involving SHAC activists charged with 'conspiracy to blackmail' has just started and is still in its preliminary stages. It is scheduled to last for at least 3-4 months. For more information, see www.shac.net.