All charges dropped against insurance protestors

The Crown Prosecution Service has dropped charges against two activists who scaled the historic insurance marketplace the Royal Exchange. Police arrested the pair on suspicion of criminal damage after they climbed a 10 metre column and dropped a banner calling to boycott “the insurers of death”.

Boycott Bloody Insurance

Kelly’s solicitors led the successful defence and the Crown Prosecution Service dismissed all charges for lack of evidence. It followed the action in the heart of the City of London to mark the launch of Boycott Bloody Insurance. This national campaign exposes how major UK insurers underwrite companies complicit in genocide, fossil fuel destruction, and the violent border regime.

Poppy, a 40 year old environmental educator from Wolverhampton, was one of the climbers at the Royal Exchange. She said:

This dismissal is a reminder that it is not a crime to stand up against imperialist institutions backing fossil fuel devastation, the machinery of genocide and migrant detention. The real crime is insurers like Allianz, Aviva, AXA and AIG shielding deadly corporations from accountability while withdrawing support from affected communities. We took action because the public deserves to know who is underwriting the destruction of our world.

Since the launch on 25 March, campaigners have taken the message to hundreds of organisations across the country. In November, activists in Somerset scaled the Glastonbury Festival Pyramid Stage and dropped banners at Glastonbury Tor. These called on local institutions, including the festival, to cut ties with insurance companies profiting from death and destruction.

The second climber, Oliver, a 52 year old university employee from South London, said:

We climbed the Royal Exchange because the insurance industry hides in plain sight. Without insurers, deadly corporations can’t operate; no oil giants, no arms dealers, no detention centres. The crown’s decision only strengthens our commitment. Across the country, people are realising they don’t have to buy insurance from companies funding harm.

Insurers Financing Imperialism

Research by Boycott Bloody Insurance has uncovered which companies provide Employers’ Liability cover to some of the world’s most destructive corporations:

Allianz underwrites Elbit Systems, the main supplier of weapons to Israel.

Aviva underwrites PetroChina, the world’s third-largest fossil fuel company by revenue, as well as G4S and Serco, corporations running migrant detention centres across the UK.

AXA provides cover to Drax, the UK’s single largest carbon emitter.

AIG underwrites BP, the world’s 8th-largest fossil fuel corporation and a key supplier of oil to Israel during the genocide. AIG also insures Airbus, whose subsidiary Ariane Group produces the M51 nuclear-capable missile.

The campaign calls on organisations of all sizes – charities, festivals, universities, community groups and businesses – to refuse insurance contracts with these firms and adopt ethical alternatives.

Featured image by Crispin Hughes via Boycott Bloody Insurance