Protest group says it targeted insurers ‘due to their critical role underpinning the fossil fuel economy’. A man has been arrested after environmental activists claimed responsibility for sabotage attacks on fibre optic cables outside major insurance companies.
The 29-year-old was arrested by City of London police after activists said they had cut the cables to insurance company offices in London, Leeds, Birmingham and Sheffield on Monday. In a press release, the group, which calls itself Shut The System, said it had targeted insurers “due to their critical role underpinning the fossil fuel economy through underwriting contracts and investments”.
They circulated a photo that they said showed an activist dressed as an electrical engineer reaching into a maintenance hole to cut cables next to 52 Lime Street, in the City of London financial district, where the insurance firms W/R/B Underwriting and Chaucer have offices.
Fibre optics were also targeted, according to the press release, at the insurance market at Lloyd’s of London, the Walkie Talkie building at 20 Fenchurch Street, London base of seven big insurers, and the offices of Talbot AIG at 60 Threadneedle Street, Chubb at 100 Leadenhall Street, and AIG on Fenchurch Street. The offices of AIG in Birmingham, Markel in Sheffield and Axa in Leeds were also targeted, Shut The System said.
“If these powerful companies don’t make public statements that they will stop driving fossil fuel expansion and destroying life on Earth, then we have no choice but to stop them ourselves,” the group’s statement said, in explanation of the target. “We will not give up until insurance companies take responsible action.”.
