By Shadia Nasralla and Ron Bousso
LONDON (Reuters) -A couple of dozen climate protesters disrupted Shell’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Tuesday, chanting slogans and holding banners as Shell Chair Andrew Mckenzie tried to start the meeting.
Shell is due to ask its shareholders to vote on a resolution supporting its climate strategy and rebuff a climate resolution from activists, another iteration of which garnered 30% of votes at last year’s AGM.
“Can I assume that you do not want me to speak?” Mackenzie asked over chants such as “we will stop you” and “Shell must fall” delayed the start of proceedings.
Police arrived at the venue in central London but allowed protesters to continue chanting for over an hour after the meeting was supposed to start.
“We’re here to embarrass them and hold them account for as much as we can. They know what’s going on. We’re not here to educate them,” said Aidan Knox of activists Money Rebellion, which is linked to climate protest group Extinction Rebellion.
Both Mackenzie and Shell Chief Executive Ben van Beurden stayed on the podium, watching the protests stone-faced, even as a screen behind them said the meeting was “temporarily paused” and non-protesting shareholders were asked to leave.
After almost two hours, Mackenzie said the police had asked all Shell employees, including board members, to leave the venue. Once they had left, the protesters left voluntarily with police watching on. A Shell spokesperson said the shareholder meeting would resume in a different room after a break.
(Editing by David Goodman and Mark Potter)