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May 24, 2023

Activists Take Over London Shell Shareholder Meeting as Climate Groups Stage Protests Across Europe
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Climate activists are ramping up acts of civil disobedience and direct
action to draw attention to the hastening crisis. In Britain, the group
Fossil Free London and others disrupted Shell's annual shareholder
meeting Tuesday, storming the stage and triggering chaotic scenes as
protesters confronted investors of the oil giant.

Protester: "Congratulate yourselves for record-breaking profits, which
lead to record-breaking floods, droughts and heat waves. Welcome to
Shell, where you are complicit in the destruction of people's homes,
livelihoods and lives. Welcome to hell! But I, ladies and gentlemen, I
refuse to accept your hell on Earth."

This week, the People's Health Tribunal found Shell and Total oil
company guilty of genocide and ecocide in communities in South Africa,
Nigeria, Mozambique and Uganda.

This comes as Just Stop Oil activists have been leading "slow marches"
on London's major streets and bridges, disrupting traffic.

In Italy, climate activists with Last Generation doused themselves and
the street in front of Rome's Senate building in mud as the death toll
from last week's record-breaking floods in northern Italy has risen to
15.

In Geneva, Switzerland, some 100 protesters demanding a ban on private
jets descended on the international airport, blocking entry to an
aircraft exhibition. A Greenpeace campaigner said there was a recent
rise of 64% in private jet flights in Europe.

Klara Maria Schenk: "The climate crisis is escalating every day. We see
extreme weather, even in Europe. We had droughts all winter long. Now
summer storms and spring storms are starting. And at the same time, a
super rich, very small elite keeps polluting as if there is no tomorrow.
This needs to stop."

In related news, France has enacted its ban on domestic short-haul
flights between many major cities. The move, an effort to rein in carbon
emissions, will apply to routes where train alternatives exist.


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