It is just as important to guard against these terrorists, who are actual terrorists, as against the hypothetical terrorists of Al’Qaeda.
– Lord Taverne, head of the Research Defence Society discussing SHAC in the House of Lords
The conspiracy against SHAC took place over several years, leading to a gradual erosion of civil liberties, followed by a violent act of state repression which caused former police officer, and extremism expert, Gordon Mills to state:
“The success of this initiative has had far reaching implications for human rights and the ability of people to protest in a democratic society. The post-2004 era witnessed a new age of animal rights activity and associated extremism, however, it also witnessed a new era in policing protest that will continue to have huge ramifications for our democracy.”
Our full report can be read here.
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1999 GSK threaten to leave the UK
When a Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) flu drug was rejected for use by the NHS, the company threatened to leave the UK. In response Prime Minister Tony Blair launched the Pharmaceutical Industry Competitiveness Task Force (PICTF), consisting of pharmaceutical executives and government ministers. PICTF met regularly and reported to the Prime Minister to discuss how to make the UK more comfortable for pharmaceutical industry.
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2000 Budget 2000
Chancellor Gordon Brown unveiled a new budget and economic plan which was predicated upon growing the research and development (R&D) sector, 23% of which was animal research.
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2001 Government banking
The Royal Bank of Scotland withdrew a loan to HLS and cancelled their bank account. Lord Sainsbury stepped in on behalf of the British Government and brokered a new loan with a US equity company. In an unprecedented move, the Government also set HLS up a bank account with the Bank of England.
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2001 PICTF report
PICTF published their first report. It resulted in sweeping tax cuts for the pharmaceutical industry and regulations regarding animal testing licenses being relaxed. The industry also demanded amendments to the Criminal Justice and Police Bill, the Malicious Communications Act and the Companies Act, with the intention of criminalising previously lawful protest by animal rights activists.
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2003 Demonising animal rights
With R&D investment dropping by £100m between 2002-2003, MP’s connected to the pharmaceutical industry discuss in parliament the need to divide SHAC from mainstream animal rights groups, and suggest that the press ought to be more demonising of animal rights,
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2003 Anti Social Behaviour Act
Due to the efficacy of SHAC, new laws allow protests of two or more people to be dispersed, and extended aggravated trespass to cover trespass in buildings, criminalising protests which up until then had been carried out regularly by all kinds of non-violent activist groups.
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2003 National Forum
Lord Goldsmith launched a National Forum to host regular meetings between the CPS, court officials, ACPO, the Home Office and the DTI in order to coordinate the response to animal rights activists. The pharmaceutical industry later joined these meetings, and attendees were encouraged to be ‘radical and proactive in thinking of new ways to deal with [animal rights activists].’ and to look for ‘gaps’ in legislation that should be filled to stop effective animal rights protests.
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2004 National Extremism Tactical Coordination
The Government forms a new police unit to target protesters, National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU).
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2004 Companies threaten to leave
British pharmaceutical giants Glaxo SmithKline (GSK) and Astra Zeneca (AZ) threaten Tony Blair during a private meeting that they would leave UK, wiping 5% off of GDP, if he didn’t capitulate to their demand to stop animal rights protests against them.
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2004 Adrian Radford/Ian Farmer
Security analyst Ian Farmer/Adrian Radford is embedded into SHAC by the police to act as an agent provocateur.
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2005 SOCPA
As a result of protests carried out by Ian Farmer/Adrian Radford, section 145 and 146 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) were passed, which made it a crime to interfere with the contractual relationships of an animal research organisation. Pro-vivisection members of the House of Lords complained that SHAC were exploiting the ‘freedoms that democracy provides’. Following lobbying from the Research Defence Society, human rights charity Liberty refused to criticise the laws, which made many age-old protest tactics an imprisonable offence, but only if carried out against an animal research organisation.
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2005 Tony Blair vows to end SHAC
In a memo leaked to SHAC from Tony Blair’s office, the Prime Minister pledged to do “everything possible” to solve the animal rights ‘problem’ within a year.
SHAC SHUTDOWN
The final shutdown of SHAC was part of an international clampdown on anti-vivisection activism. It all began with the the FBI, who targeted SHAC USA with the CoIntelPro tactics which they had used to destroy the Black Panther Party in the 1960s.
MAY 2004
On May 26, 2004, six activists from SHAC USA (and SHAC USA itself) were indicted on charges of animal enterprise terrorism under the Animal Enterprise Protection Act. The activists who became known as the ‘SHAC 7’ were not accused of carrying out any specific criminal act(s), but were convicted in March 2006 for running a website, which reported on protest actions taken against Huntingdon Life Sciences. They believed their actions were protected by their First Amendment rights.
Almost as soon as the SHAC 7 were arrested, the then UK Home Secretary Caroline Flint admitted in private letters that she had been influenced by the ‘American approach’. A new British police agency called the National Extremist Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU) was formed; set up as a ‘QUANGO’, NETCU were exempt from Freedom of Information requests like other police forces and were able to work in total secrecy.
The conspiracy against SHAC was part of an international clampdown on anti-vivisection activism. It all began with the the FBI, who targeted SHAC USA with the CoIntelPro tactics which they had used to destroy the Black Panther Party in the 1960s.
MAY 2006
In May 2006, with advice from FBI agents behind the SHAC 7 prosecution, 13 protestors from UK based Stop Sequani Animal Testing (SSAT) were violently arrested in their homes. Just like the SHAC 7, they were accused of running a website which reported on protests against a contract animal research facility called Sequani in Ledbury. Despite no link between any of the defendants and criminality, activist Sean Kirtley was jailed for four and a half years. After spending sixteen months in prison, his conviction was quashed on appeal and he was released.
MAY 2007
In May 2007, 700 police officers arrested 32 activists in the UK and mainland Europe for participation in the SHAC campaign. In the 11 years that followed, a total of four linked trials were held which saw the imprisonment of 16 activists for a total of almost 80 years. Read more about the events which led to the raids here.
Buoyed by the success of the UK prosecutions, several police officers from the SHAC case attempted to export their tactics to mainland Europe.
British police officers John Madigan and Andy Robbins, convinced their Austrian counterparts that as far as animal rights campaigns were concerned, lawful campaigning tactics were ‘just the tip of the iceberg’.
MAY 2008
On May 21st 2008, Austrian police raided twenty-three homes and offices connected to activists who had attended protests against the fur retailer Kleider Bauer.
Ten activists with no links to criminality were remanded to prison for 105 days, charged with being members of a ‘criminal organisation’, under s. 278a of the Austrian Criminal Code.
The accusations against them were almost identical to the SHAC 7, SSAT, and the British SHAC defendants now seeking justice. As their trial began, 300 people, including a nun, priest and a member of parliament, submitted signed confessions to the public prosecutor, admitting that they too had taken part in social justice campaigns, aware that unknown persons had broken the law in pursuit of the same cause.
Towards the end of the trial, the defendants uncovered proof that a police spy had been working in their midst. Her intelligence reports, which the prosecution had attempted to hide, proved the innocence of the activists on trial, and they were all found not guilty.
Learn more about the Austrian 10 here.
2011
In 2011, NETCU was shut down, several of the police officers went on to work in the vivisection industry. Their most senior officer, Steve Pearl now recruits staff to work in animal research laboratories.
On May 26, 2004, six activists from SHAC USA (and SHAC USA itself) were indicted on charges of animal enterprise terrorism under the Animal Enterprise Protection Act. The activists who became known as the ‘SHAC 7’ were not accused of carrying out any specific criminal act(s), but were convicted in March 2006 for running a website, which reported on protest actions taken against Huntingdon Life Sciences. They believed their actions were protected by their First Amendment rights.
Almost as soon as the SHAC 7 were arrested, the then UK Home Secretary Caroline Flint admitted in private letters that she had been influenced by the ‘American approach’. A new British police agency called the National Extremist Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU) was formed; set up as a ‘QUANGO’, NETCU were exempt from Freedom of Information requests like other police forces and were able to work in total secrecy.
MAY 2006
In May 2006, with advice from FBI agents behind the SHAC 7 prosecution, 13 protestors from UK based Stop Sequani Animal Testing (SSAT) were violently arrested in their homes. Just like the SHAC 7, they were accused of running a website which reported on protests against a contract animal research facility called Sequani in Ledbury. Despite no link between any of the defendants and criminality, activist Sean Kirtley was jailed for four and a half years. After spending sixteen months in prison, his conviction was quashed on appeal and he was released.
In May 2007, 700 police officers arrested 32 activists in the UK and mainland Europe for participation in the SHAC campaign. In the 11 years that followed, a total of four linked trials were held which saw the imprisonment of 16 activists for a total of almost 80 years. Read more about the events which led to the raids here.
Buoyed by the success of the UK prosecutions, several police officers from the SHAC case attempted to export their tactics to mainland Europe.
British police officers John Madigan and Andy Robbins, convinced their Austrian counterparts that as far as animal rights campaigns were concerned, lawful campaigning tactics were ‘just the tip of the iceberg’.
MAY 2007
On May 21st 2008, Austrian police raided twenty-three homes and offices connected to activists who had attended protests against the fur retailer Kleider Bauer.
Ten activists with no links to criminality were remanded to prison for 105 days, charged with being members of a ‘criminal organisation’, under s. 278a of the Austrian Criminal Code.
The accusations against them were almost identical to the SHAC 7, SSAT, and the British SHAC defendants now seeking justice. As their trial began, 300 people, including a nun, priest and a member of parliament, submitted signed confessions to the public prosecutor, admitting that they too had taken part in social justice campaigns, aware that unknown persons had broken the law in pursuit of the same cause.
Towards the end of the trial, the defendants uncovered proof that a police spy had been working in their midst. Her intelligence reports, which the prosecution had attempted to hide, proved the innocence of the activists on trial, and they were all found not guilty.
In 2011, NETCU was shut down, several of the police officers went on to work in the vivisection industry. Their most senior officer, Steve Pearl now recruits staff to work in animal research laboratories.