Activists Falsely Accuse Emerson Employees of Being Pedophiles

Animal rights activists are the suspected culprit in actions across Great Britain in which leaflets falsely describing employees of Emerson Developments Holdings as pedophiles were distributed and a number of attacks on the homes of Emerson employees were carried out.

The Runcorn Weekly News reported on one such effort,

In Runcorn, one of the worst affected areas was Norton, where posters were plastered all over a phone box ‘naming and shaming’ a local resident — a man who police stress is not under suspicion of any crime — and encouraging people to confront him with these allegations.

The police spokesman said enquiries had revealed the ‘wholly false and uncorroborated’ claims were being made against individuals known to be targeted by animal rights group SHAC — but stressed that none of those named had any connection with the animal research industry.

About the same time, more than a dozen of Emerson’s directors had their homes and cars attacked. Activists covered cars in paint stripper and slashed tires. According to the Runcorn Weekly News,

Ninenteen Emerson directors are believed to have received threatening letters accusing them of “swimming in the blood of innocent animals” and threatening “violent retribution” if the property firm did not comply with their demands. Emerson are still Yamanouchi’s landlords.

Yamanouchi, of course, contracts some animal research out to Huntingdon Life Sciences.

SHAC spokesperson Natasha Avery tried to distance SHAC from the actions, especially since there is still a legal injunction against SHAC limiting where and how it can protest against Emerson. The Macclesfield Express quoted Avery as saying (emphasis added),

There is a campaign being waged by the ALF and the Animal Rights Militia against Emerson because of their involvement with Yamanouchi. There have been a huge number of attacks, things like turning up in the middle of the night and pouring paint stripper on cards and around the place. However it is important to differentiate between SHAC and the other groups. We are a legitimate organization who only use peaceful and lawful forms of protest. Cheshire police have linked us to this crime and we are going to be talking to our lawyers.

SHAC only uses peaceful and lawful forms of protest? This is the same Natasha Avery who in 2002, then going by Natasha Taylor, was sentenced to six months in jail and six months probation for illegally harassing Huntingdon Life Sciences employees. Avery’s modus operandi there was the same as those who distributed and mailed the leaflets accusing Emerson employees of being pedophiles,

[Natasha Avery and two others produced] newsletters [that] published telephone numbers and addresses of people associated with HLS, and urged people to arrange to order unwanted goods to be delivered to people’s homes in order to harm their credit rating. They also urged phone blockades against banks and a persistent letter campaign directed at employees.

The Macclesfield Express also carried a lengthy statement from Sir Nicholas Winterton, who is Macclesfield’s Member of Parliament and a non-executive director of Emerson’s overseas activities,

These criminal acts by members of the animal rights and animal liberation organizations have been going on for more than eight months now and are quite clearly extremely serious. They are carrying out in my view terrorist acts as they are seeking to achieve political ends by undemocratic actions.

Emerson itself, the company and the group, has nothing whatsoever to do with animal experimentation. It owns a property outside London, part of which is leased by Yamanouchi. But they handle completely legal activities there. Emerson is clearly bound by a legal lease that it can’t get out of unless Yamanouchi voluntarily seeks to surrender the lease, which it has not offered to do.

The company has been the subject of many attacks. The police are seeking to do everything they can. And it’s not just the directors, even the most humble employee of the company has experienced attention from activities. Members of the company and, I think, the chairman himself have received the most offensive letters and allegations of unpleasant sexual actions.

These are the actions of terrorists and those carrying them out should be treated as such. They are extremely dangerous people and it is completely unacceptable to target people going about their everyday business. The criminals carrying out these acts should be making representations to the government and parliament. I deplore and condemn their actions against companies that bring jobs, investment and tax revenue to this country.

Sources:

Campaign of terror waged aginast bosses. Macclesfield Express, September 2004.

‘Paedophile’ smear attack. Germa Melling, Runcorn Weekly News, September 9, 2004.

MI5 Reportedly Set to Infiltrate Animal Rights Groups

The Times of London reported this month that British internal security agency MI5 might become involved in efforts to curtail acts of animal rights extremism in the UK.

According to the Times,

Senior officers from the Security Service are consulting the Home Office about the need for intelligence-gathering to counter the threat to pharmaceutical companies.

The Times reports that MI5 had previously considered and ultimately rejected becoming directly involved in investigating animal rights groups, but the increasing level of violence and other acts of extremism — along with pharmaceutical companies’ recent threats to pull new investments from Great Britain — have led the government to reconsider whether MI5 should be used.

According to The Times, “The sources said that a final decision would depend on whether the extremists were judged to have crossed into a more dangerous arena. . . . If MI5 becomes involved, the agency would work with the new National Extremism Tactical Co-ordination Unit, formed by chief constables this year and based at Cambridgeshire Police headquarters, which has been policing the demonstrations against Huntingdon Life Sciences and the threats against Cambridge University’s now abandoned plan for a primate laboratory.”

Source:

MI5 agents to infiltrate animal rights terror groups. Michael Evans, Patrick Hosking and Stewart Tendler, Times of London, September 10, 2004.

Prosecutors File Motion to Revoke Kevin Kjonaas' Bail

Federal prosecutors this week asked a judge to revoke the bail of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty’s Kevin Kjonaas and jail him until his upcoming trial on charges of conspiracy to terrorize, interstate stalking, and conspiracy to commit interstate stalking.

As part of his bail terms, Kjonaas is barred from “disseminating any personal or private information about company employees and their families, and from threatening or inducing others to threaten anyone.”

Federal prosecutors claim that Kjonaas violated the terms of his bail when activists showed up to protest at the home of Chiron counsel William Green on August 15. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles McKenna and Ricardo Solano argued in their motion that,

There is clear and convincing evidence that the attack on Green’s home was coordinated by SHAC-USA, and defendant (Kevin) Kjonaas — as the president of SHAC — is responsible for its activities.

McKenna and Solano note that the protest was publicized on SHAC’s web site, that demonstrators carried a banner displaying the URL to SHAC’s web site, and that leaflets were passed out on SHAC stationery.

Kjonaas’ attorney, Isabel McGinty, responded that her client had resigned as president of SHAC almost two weeks before the protest, and besides the protesters identified themselves as being with the Animal Rights Direct Action Coalition.

Source:

Feds want animal rights activist in jail. John Martin, New Jersey Star-Ledger, September 7, 2004.

Chiron Obtains Restraining Order Against SHAC

A California judge this month granted Emeryville-based Chiron a temporary restraining order against Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. The restraining order prohibits SHAC or anyone associated with the group from harassing the company’s employees.

The restraining order was granted in light of an August 15 SHAC-organized protest at the home of Chiron attorney William Green. At about 10:15 a.m., protestors wearing masks and black clothing arrived at Green’s home. Despite a neighbor’s efforts to prevent them from entering Green’s property, the activists smashed about a dozen windows at the home. There was some indication the activists intended to use a garden hose to flood the home.

By the time police arrived, the activists were gone. Police told local TV stations, however, that neighbors had written down license plate numbers and descriptions of the activists and they were pursuing those leads.

Sources:

Biotech Executive’s Home Gets Vandalized. KGO-TV, August 16, 2004.

Top Chiron lawyer’s home is vandalized. Henry Lee, San Francisco Chronicle, August 16, 2004.

Chiron moves to limit animal rights group. Nathaniel Hoffman, Contra Costa Times, August 21, 2004.

Chiron gets restraining order against animal rights group. Associated Press, August 22, 2004.

SHAC Goes Out There for Targets in War Against HLS

Despite its campaign of harassment and violence, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty has had to sit by and watch Huntingdon Life Sciences recover and prosper over the past few years. But one thing SHAC has done well is find ever more peripheral targets to harass.

This week SHAC fanatics promised to make UK clothing and home decor chain Marks & Spencer. Why M&S?

The company currently uses freight company BOC. BOC is in turn a subsidiary of a firm that supplies gas to Huntingdon.

SHAC seems to be channeling the John Birch Society in its method of picking targets.

Source:

Animal extremists to target M&S. Simon Fluendy, This Is London, August 1, 2004.

Man arrested in BYU arson. Justin Hill, The Daily Herald (Provo Utah), July 27, 2004.

Animal Activist Jailed for Defying Grand Jury

Animal rights activist Kim Berardi was jailed briefly in July after refusing to answer questions before a federal grand jury investing animal rights crimes in Seattle. She was released temporarily on July 6 to deal with some undisclosed personal matter and the current disposition of her case is unclear.

Berardi is associated with Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty. When SHAC activists were arrested in Little Rock, Arkansas, for example, activist asked that people wanting to donate money to bail out jailed activists should wire their money to Berardi.

She is also acted as a contact for animal rights extremist magazine No Compromise!

Previously she has worked with chapters of the Animal Defense League. A 1999 Fur Commission USA press release noted a protest at a farm (featuring those masked protestors we’ve all become so familiar with of late),

About 15 protesters showed up, many wearing black hooded sweatshirts, half a dozen wore masks over their faces. Local law enforcement responded and ensured that there were no violations of the rights or property of the farming family or the rights of the protesters to express their opinion.

Involved with the Chicago ADL is veteran conflict gypsy Kim Berardi who has organized ADL “Civil Disobedience Training” sessions focusing on “physical, psychological and emotional preparation” and “how to handle the police”, among other items. Previously associated with the extreme New York and New Jersey ADLs, groups which openly support the criminal activities of the terrorist Animal Liberation Front (ALF), Berardi was promoted in 1999 to managing the Chicago Animal Defense League.

. . .

Berardi currently faces charges in Washington State arising from a masked invasion of a farm on Feb. 23, 1999. About 15 people donned black masks and jumped the fence of a fur farm in Snohomish County where they began breaking into pens, traumatizing the domesticated mink. Five people were quickly arrested, including three out-of-state minors transported across state lines to perform criminal acts on a school day during school hours. Like Berardi, the other adult involved, Nicole Dawn Briggs, has arrest records in multiple states. They were charged with second-degree burglary and first-degree theft for the incident. Trial is set for January of 2000.

Yeah, can’t imagine at all why a grand jury would want to talk to her.

Sources:

Farming Family Endures Sunday Attack by Veteran Conflict-Generation Group. Press Release, Fur Commission USA, November 8, 1999.

Animal Activist Kim Berardi Released… Temporarily.

Little Rock SHAC Protesters May Need Money for Bail Bond.

Seattle Grand Jury Imprisons Kim Berardi! Press Release, No Compromise!, July 2, 2004.