[shac-uk] SIX DAYS to go, and yet another company ditches HLS

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SIX DAYS to the March and Rally, and yet another company ditches HLSWith just 6 days to go to the national demo, yet another company has severed its ties with Huntingdon Life Sciences. Earth Check provided electrical services and equipment to HLS torture centre, but after being contacted by shac supporters, they released the following statement. "Earth Check Ltd have severed their links with HLS and terminated theircontract, and will not be dealing with them now or in the future directly orindirectly." - Martin Jenkins, Earth CHeck Ltd.Yet another indication of the continuing success of the shac campaign. There is now less than one week to go until the National Shac march and rally through Huntingdon and at the HLS animal labs.If you haven't already, please start making plans to attend this very important

protest. Transport has already been arranged from all over the country, with others planning to attend from as far afield as Italy, Switzerland, Sweden and USA. If you want to be put in touch with people organising transport in yourarea, contact us for details. Likewise if you're travelling to the demo and can offer a lift to other protesters, get in touch, see below for contact details.SHACinfo0845 458 0630SHAC National March and RallySaturday November 10thMeet 11am, Riverside Car Park, Huntingdon.The national March and Rally to the labs at Huntingdon next month will be the first such march for several years after HLS obtained a temporary High Court Order limiting protests to 50 people. Earlier thisyear the terms of the injunction were varied, allowing for the return of large demonstrations at the site, as well as the use of megaphones during protests.However the ban on large protests at the

sites did not succeed in any way in stopping the campaign. In fact in the face of this repression the campaign to shut down the labs has continued to grow, and has now become a global phenomenen, unprecedented in the history of the movement.Indeed this is a campaign which under normal circumstances would have been successful several times over. The UK government has repeatedly stepped in and used hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers money to bail out HLS. The government now provides banking and insurance facilities for HLS, the only company in the world with access to such priveleges.Many have asked us why the government is going to such lengths to keep thisdigraced and discredited company in business. It is no coincidence and nosecret that the government has for many years been funded by a small band ofwealthy biotech and pharmaceutical entrepreneurs such as David Sainsbury and Christopher Evans. It is widely accepted now that in

exchange for these huge donations, these people received honours (both Sainsbury and Evans became Lords) and even political power in exchange for these huge donations (the so-called "Cash for honours" scandal). However there has been a lesser known payback; the massive input of resources, the hundreds of millions of taxpayers' money, spent on defending the biotech and vivisection industry.And despite all this, HLS remains $100 million in debt, and doesn't even own its buildings. Only 2% of HLS shares are currently being traded, and even then only on an obscure and little used trading scheme, since all the major stock exchanges still refuse to list them. Even the very few companies who recently bought shares in the company, are now getting rid of their shares just as quickly. Recent large investors who have been added to the long, long list of companies who have stopped dealing with HLS include some of the biggest names in international finance, such as

Dresdner/Allianz, Deutche Bank, Rabobank and BNP Paribas.Yet in recent weeks, HLS bosses have been claiming in the media and to anyone who will listen that the Shac campaign is over, while at the same time still no companies are prepared to invest in the company. This is a blatant example of wishful thinking on the part of HLS management. The truth is that despite all the resources and the millions spent defending and shoring up this disgraced and nasty company, HLS is as bankrupt and dependent on government handouts as it ever was.Hence the recent attempts by the authorities to shut down the Shac campaign by other means, by the use of massive police raids on premises across the country and even abroad, by the widespread confiscation of large amounts of campaign materials and personal property, by the targeting and repression of the campaign organisers, the imprisoning of some, the strict bail conditions imposed on others.But all their efforts

have failed again. The number of protests and actions since the crackdown has actually increased, and even more countries have joined the campaign, and even more companies have ditched HLS.It's vital that on Saturday November 10th we send a clear and unmistakable message to HLS and their collaborators, that we turn up in huge numbers, that we stand shoulder to shoulder to with those Shac campaigners who cannot bethere for unavoidable reasons. We must not fail them or the animals.Be there.Contact us for any more details, for details of transport from your area, or if you are going and can offer transport to other protesters.SHACinfo0845 458 0630