BP protesters removed from agm
Last Updated on Thursday, 14 April 2011 21:42 Thursday, 14 April 2011 21:09
Protesters were removed from the annual general meeting of BP today and others denied entry in what is quickly becoming an annual routine. Some protesters had flown all the way from American to London, UK to protest at Shell's disastrous Horizon oil well blowout. Gulf of Mexico fishermen and women were denied entry to the meeting despite holding proxies which should have permitted them entry.
Another lady poured fake oil over herself. Louisiana fisherwoman Diane Wilson covered herself in the substance before being arrested by police for breach of the peace.
The proceedings inside were no less tense. Keith Jones, whose son was killed when the Horizon oil rig exploded, had given activist Antonia Juhasz a letter to read. Ms. Juhasz also has a book on the disaster coming out. When BP executives attempted to stop Juhasz from reading the letter she told the meeting, "His son died aboard the rig and you don't want to hear his voice?"
When she had finished BP chief executive Bob Dudley read out the names of the 11 men killed in the explosion and said 'nothing could bring them back' and BP was shocked and saddened by their deaths. He also said BP would do everything it could to learn from the accident and avoid a similar one in future.
Protesters representing Canada also showed up and had to be dragged from the meeting. They were angry at BP's involvement in the country, specifically processing tar sands for oil.
There were significant numbers of members who voted against the re-election of the safety committee (25%) while 11% voted against the remuneration report. But BP carried both with the block votes of institutional investors.
Diane Wilson covered in fake oil
