Student protesters defy event boss to expose arms insurance cover-up

Student protesters have released footage and delivered letters to Sompo Insurance headquarters, defying attempts by event organisers to cover up the violent removal of activists from a major London financial conference.

The incident occurred at the Insurance Linked Securities Conference, hosted by Insurance Insider, where four activists, including a 17-year-old student, were pushed and dragged from the venue by security.

Security guards manhandled the 17-year-old student out of the event, as she shouted: “I’m just 17” and “Stop insuring genocide”.

Activists accuse insurance company of ‘complicity’

The students had attended the event to demand that Sompo, a key sponsor, drop its business with Elbit Systems. Elbit is an Israeli arms manufacturer which many have accused of complicity in war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

Rather than engaging in dialogue, event organisers attempted to suppress the evidence. They initially refused to return a phone used to film the protest, which they’d seized during the activists’ removal. They called police to the scene, who conducted full searches, and eventually recovered the personal property.

Following the incident, organisers approached the students to negotiate the release of the footage. The students allege that organisers “begged and tried to bribe” them to conceal the events.

In defiance of their requests, the activists released the footage today. And they visited Sompo’s London offices on Leadenhall Street to deliver letters to four senior executives.

Miriam Price, a student at LSE, said:

We were shocked by their treatment of peaceful protesters. We requested a dialogue by submitting a letter and were shoved and dragged from the room for our efforts.

All this fuss rather than accepting a simple demand: if you want new graduate recruits, don’t underwrite imperialist industries massacring communities and devastating ecosystems.

Shana Sullivan, a PhD student and spokesperson for the protest group No New Workers, condemned the insurance company’s stance:

We cannot compromise when insurers like Sompo are complicit in ongoing war crimes and genocide by taking on clients like Elbit Systems. There must be a hardline for anyone with a conscience, and it disgusts us that it is the young and less powerful who must point this out.

We want insurers to take their responsibilities to keep people and our planet safe seriously, and we vow to continue our campaign until we see real change.

The escalation coincides with a significant legal moment for anti-arms activism in the UK. It comes on the same day as the verdict of an appeal for Palestine Action, a direct action group known for targeting Elbit’s manufacturing plants, and just three days after four Palestine Action activists were sentenced to a total of over 20 years in prison for terrorism-related charges connected to weapon damage.

No New Workers continues to campaign for total divestment from the arms industry. The group argues that London’s financial sector mustn’t profit from the devastation of Gaza and the destruction of global ecosystems.

Featured image supplied