For a brief period at the end of August and beginning of September, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty was actively trying to pressure Shell Oil to stop doing business with Huntingdon Life Sciences, but didn’t get very far.
In the first week of September, 15 animal rights activists chained themselves to concrete-filled oil drums on the road leading to a Shell oil refinery in the United Kingdom. The protest forced police to close the read, causing disruptions during rush hour traffic near the refinery.
The interesting thing was that a SHAC spokesman, Joseph Dawson, was obviously frustrated by SHAC’s inability to pressure Shell to withdraw its business from HLS. Dawson told The Guardian,
The list of companies who have pulled out because of this sort of action is endless. We have tried to reason with Shell. We offered to do it the nice way and speak to them but they basically put the phone down on us so now this campaign has to be stepped up.
Dawson seemed shocked that a company might actually resist his group’s harassment and ignorance. Good for Shell.
Source:
Animal rights activists blockade refinery. The Guardian (UK), September 4, 2001.