Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile Version | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

March and Protest against Novartis in Horsham

Sussex Action For Animals | 02.11.2009 15:27 | SHAC | Animal Liberation | South Coast

We were very pleased that approximately 70 people turned out for our demonstration and march against Novartis in Horsham on Saturday .

Up until 2pm the day before we were not even sure that the demonstration would be able to take place, as Novartis had attempted to get an interim injunction. Novartis were seeking to prevent banners on the demonstration from bearing the words "Novartis", or carry posters showing images of animal suffering. They didn't want protesters to be able to wear masks or costumes; in particular blood stained lab coats. They did also mention something about fireworks!












Despite the best efforts of solicitor Tim Lawson-Cruttenden to dredge up any dirt he could to support his application, the judge found in our favour and said "At this late and interlocutory stage it seems to me that the balance is resoundingly against the suggested requirement that protestors must not wear blood splattered clothing or costumes". He went on to say that stopping people wearing masks would involve "considerable practical problems for the Police, risk the raising of tensions, and interfere with the rights of those who simply wish to wear inoffensive masks".

So, the demo went off very well, was extremely loud and the public seemed genuinely interested in our protest and took our leaflets with enthusiasm. In the last week we have handed out 1,000 leaflets which tell the people of Horsham that Novartis torture and kill animals and their drugs damage and kill people too.

We would like to thank the police for the considerable number of officers that were present on the march as well as the 50 or so, plus police horses, that were waiting for us to arrive at Novartis itself! We appreciate them trying to make up the numbers, but it wasn't necessary. We caused just as much time, energy and money and inconvenience as if there had been 1,000 of us.

We feel quite pleased with ourselves that a group consisting of only 6 people can cause this level of aggravation to a company the size of Novartis.

What is abundantly clear is that Novartis really, really, do not like being associated with animal experiments. Quite rightly they know that most people find vivisection disgusting and immoral. With this in mind our group is busy, as we write, producing more banners and posters to add to our weekly demonstrations, which from now on will take place not only outside Novartis, but also in HORSHAM town centre as well.

Our message to Novartis, We will never give in, we will continue to tell the truth about your dirty, bloody business and if you don't like it, bring it on......

PS After the march the police went into the George pub in Brighton and told the landlord that animal rights people were going to be meeting there and watch out for trouble! They said they would be back later to check, which they did. Shame they didn't have something better to do........

If you live in the Sussex/Horsham area and would like to get involved, please contact us.

Sussex Action For Animals
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/sussexactionforanimals

Comments

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
13-18th February, London: No Borders Convergence: final details & programme
24th-26th February, near Glasgow: Earth First! Winter Moot
10th-11th March, Somerset: Surround and blockade Hinkley Point nuclear power station
From May 1st, Brighton Smash EDO: Summer of Resistance
9th June for 30 days, Faslane: 30 Days of Action at Faslane Naval Base

Ongoing UK
Every Wednesday, Brighton: noise demos at EDO MBM
Ongoing, Lincs: RAF Waddington Peace Camp. Protesting against Drone Warfare. More info.
Ongoing, London: Occupy London Stock Exchange
Ongoing, London Occupy Finsbury Square
Ongoing, Sheffield Occupy Sheffield
Ongoing, Cardiff Occupy Cardiff
Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Climate Change: Climate Indymedia
United Kollectives
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern England
Nottingham
Scotland
Projects
Indymedia Projects
iMobile Page
Photo Page
Indymedia Cinema
Video Page
Radio Page
Offline Newsheet
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Unencrypted Page
We suggest you use an encrypted connection for browsing this site.
Please install the CAcert root certificate to verify the authenticity of the site, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv

Africa
ambazonia
canarias
estrecho / madiaq
kenya
south africa

Canada
london, ontario
maritimes
ottawa
quebec
victoria

East Asia
japan
qc
saint-petersburg

Europe
abruzzo
alacant
antwerpen
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
bristol
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
euskal herria
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
london
madrid
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
nice
northern england
norway
oost-vlaanderen
paris/île-de-france
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
ukraine
united kingdom

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
melbourne
qc
sydney

South Asia
india

United States
arizona
atlanta
austin
baltimore
big muddy
binghamton
boston
buffalo
charlottesville
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
la
madison
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new mexico
new orleans
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
seattle
united states
urbana-champaign
western mass

West Asia
beirut
palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech