Now eco-mob try to storm stage at oil giant Shell conference as dozens of protesters are hauled away
Campaigners from Fossil Free London and Extinction Rebellion's Money Rebellion subgroup were joined by Dutch activist group Milieudefensie as they disrupted the oil giant's conference during its opening address. In a tense moment in the meeting, which had already been delayed for nearly an hour, security stepped in to prevent a protester reaching chairman Sir Andrew Mackenzie and other board members on stage. Dozens of protesters were escorted out by security guards at London's Excel conference centre this morning. 'Obviously that last incident went a stage further than we experienced in the first part of today,' Sir Andrew said after protesters had been escorted out. He added that people would be removed if they tried to get on to the stage again. One woman appeared to faint as she was escorted out by security. Another screamed that the three men carrying her out of the room were hurting her. Shareholders grew increasingly frustrated, shouting: 'Shut up' and 'get a job'. The disturbances happened around 50 minutes into the AGM. Protesters had consistently got up to chant songs and slogans against the major producer of oil and gas. 'Shut down Shell,' protesters repeatedly chanted, interrupting Sir Andrew and other board members as they were speaking to shareholders in the room. Security repeatedly escorted activists out one at the time, but one protester was replaced by another. In the confusion, Sir Andrew also mistakenly asked security to remove a non-protesting shareholder who had got up to ask for the meeting to push ahead. 'Are you asking us to start the meeting? I apologise,' he said, to laughter from the room. Early in the meeting, a group of protesters sang: 'Go to hell Shell and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more' to the tune of the Ray Charles song Hit the Road Jack. The first protester to get up shouted: 'Welcome to Shell... complicit in the destruction of people's homes, livelihoods and lives. Welcome to hell.' He added: 'I refuse to accept your hell on earth. Board members, directors and shareholders, I'm here to demand that you shut down Shell.' He also said: 'The sea levels are rising, and so are the people.' The proceedings appeared to finally start after a little over an hour. A protester was escorted out after 72 minutes, after which Sir Andrew was able to start his speech to shareholders. Protesters came from groups including Christian Climate Action, a branch of Extinction Rebellion; Catholic protest group Laudato Si' Movement; and Quakers for Climate Justice. They arrived with banners reading: 'Your greed is killing humanity' and 'Stand with the Pope. Stand up to fossil fuels'. Magda Pittaro, in her 70s and from near Venice with the Laudato Si' Movement, said: 'The Pope is really concerned about what is happening to humanity because the poor are dying and the rich are getting richer. 'We are destroying our home and because of that the Catholic Church are really concerned. We are destroying the Earth, we are destroying ourselves and we are destroying God.' Members of Fossil Free London and Greenpeace have joined protesters outside the Shell AGM venue. Nuri Syed Corser, 27, an organiser for Fossil Fuel London, said: 'We are protesting because we need to shut down Shell. 'We are facing a climate crisis. Shell are one of the companies driving it and are making record profits even as people are facing devastating floods and wildfires. 'Meanwhile, people in the UK are struggling to pay their energy bills. Shell are sacrificing the wellbeing of millions to protect their obscene profits. 'If we want a safe, secure and prosperous future, then we have to stop the oil and gas drilling. That means taking on the oil and gas giants like Shell who are determined to stonewall climate action and to string out oil and gas drilling for as long as they possibly can.' Protesters are holding a rally outside the Shell AGM with drums, banners and speeches. Two demonstrators held up a makeshift archway decorated with flames and the words: 'Welcome to hell'. Rhiannon Osbourne, from the People's Health Tribunal of Shell and Total, addressed the crowd through a microphone, saying: 'Shell is a company famous for human and environmental rights abuses across the world. 'We are protesting today to take action against the Shell annual general meeting in solidarity with communities worldwide who are resisting the violence of their fossil fuel extraction.' Ms Osbourne said Shell has destroyed the health, livelihoods and ecosystems of communities across Africa. 'These are now the very same communities which face the most severe consequences of climate change such as flooding and crop failure while Shell continues to make enormous profits and worsen the climate crisis by expanding fossil fuel extraction,' she said. A protester has immediately interrupted the Shell AGM, chanting: 'Shut down Shell.' The man shouted: 'Welcome to Shell... complicit in the destruction of people's homes, livelihoods and lives. Welcome to hell. He added: 'I refuse to accept your hell on earth. Board members, directors and shareholders, I'm here to demand that you shut down Shell.' Other shareholders grumbled for the protester to be quiet while the board let him continue speaking for a few minutes. He called for others at the annual general meeting to say 'hell' when he said 'Shell' and asked questions including: 'Do you like nature?' and 'do you like David Attenborough?' which prompted a wave of laughter. Sir Andrew eventually asked the protester to sit down and let the meeting to continue to hear others' views, adding: 'I think we've heard your point.' A group of protesters at the Shell AGM They ended by chanting: 'Shut down Shell, shut down Shell', before singing 'We're on the highway to hell'. Shell chairman Sir Andrew Mackenzie repeatedly called for them to stop and sit down but as the protest continued he asked security to remove them from the meeting, which was greeted by applause from some shareholders. Protesters have been carried from or escorted out of the Shell annual general meeting in east London by security. A number were carried out while they continued to chant and sing: 'Go to hell shell' and 'we will we will stop you'. The oil giant's chairman apologised to other shareholders for the disruption. As soon as the singers were cleared from the Shell AGM, another protester stood up and began to shout about communities in the Niger Delta who she claimed had seen their water polluted because of Shell's operations. She said: 'They are not being given any compensation for their loss of water. 'You're giving them no future. They cannot pass their farm on to their children. How dare Shell remove their water.' When the woman was removed by security, another protester stood up, saying: 'Because of their actions, millions will die. You're killing the planet. You're killing millions of children.' After the second woman was removed, others stood up and spoke in turn as the previous speakers were taken out by security. Some shareholders could be heard saying: 'remove her' or 'take them out', as the disruption continued. Meanwhile, a member of the security staff told an elderly protester to 'be a lady' as she interrupted the meeting. The woman could be heard saying: 'you're hurting me' as she was escorted away. It came an hour and a half into the meeting which has been dominated by disruptions from protesters, with security staff removing them. The audience has visibly thinned after dozens of people were taken out. Sir Andrew said a shareholder resolution called by activist investor group Follow This 'would reduce our ability to help the world'. 'It (the resolution) asks us for absolute Scope 3 targets which we believe would weaken our business,' he told shareholders at the annual general meeting in London. 'It would force us to reduce the numbers of customers we serve, and most important who we hope to decarbonise. 'It would reduce our ability to help the world through our decarbonised products to cut carbon emissions. 'With strong businesses that can scale up using innovation and collaboration, we feel we're on the right path to deliver our Powering Progress strategy, while we work to become a net-zero emissions energy company.' He added: 'I urge you to support the progress we have made in the last 12 months, and not to vote for the damaging change to our strategy which Follow This have called for.' A Shell spokesman added: 'We respect peoples right to express their point of view and welcome any constructive engagement on our strategy and the energy transition. 'However, yet again protesters have shown that they are not interested in constructive engagement. 'We agree that society needs to take action on climate change. Shell has a clear target to become a net-zero emissions energy business by 2050 and we believe our climate targets are aligned with the more ambitious goal of the Paris Agreement on climate change: to limit the increase in the global average temperature to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.'