GlaxoSmithKline said Wednesday it had secured an injunction from the High Court of England and Wales to prevent animal rights protesters from contacting its investors, after more than 50 shareholders received letters threatening to post personal information on the Internet.
The letters told shareholders they had to sell all their stock in the company within two weeks to avoid the animal rights protestors’ punishment.
An injunction from the High Court is rare. It means the protestors can be prosecuted for contempt of court, an imprisonable offense, if they go against the ruling.
“As a company we have become used to these offensive gestures, but this attack on our shareholders represents a new variation of intimidation and harassment,” said GlaxoSmithKline CEO J.P. Garnier.
Glaxo called the letter campaign “a typical tactic used by extremists” which is “intended to cause fear and intimidation.”
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC)’s main gripe concerns Glaxo’s involvement with an animal research facility in Huntingdon, near Cambridge, England, which is run by British company Huntingdon Life Sciences. The company also has an animal testing facility in New Jersey.
A U.S. federal jury recently ruled that activists from this group were guilty of Internet stalking and terrorism, and/or using their web site to incite violence, after it posted home addresses and other personal information about researchers at Huntingdon Life Sciences.
Animal rights activists in the United Kingdom have achieved significant success with their campaign tactics. They have painted graffiti on the houses of laboratory contractors, and sent letters to their neighbors accusing them of being pedophiles.
Bombs and GuardsU.K. researchers have received letter bombs and the families of scientists have even been put under police protection, as has 16-year-old student Laurie Pycroft, who formed Pro-Test, an animal research advocacy group.
Two years ago, CambridgeUniversity canceled plans to build a primate neuroscience research center, citing protests against the facility as a reason for the decision.
In a statement on its web site, SHAC requested that all activists call off protesting activities against a list of protected people.
However, the statement added, “Activists are therefore requested to limit strictly their protesting activities against… to once-a-week protests, to telephone contact at their switchboard telephone numbers, to letters addressed to the respective company secretaries and email communications at the following addresses [listing the email addresses].”
Glaxo said shareholders can transfer their shares free of charge into GSK Corporate Nominee Service, through which they will remain anonymous.