Five large Japanese corporations said to be customers of the Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) drug testing group – and all with significant bases in the UK – have won extensive and groundbreaking protection orders against any harassment from animal rights activists.
According to a report in The Financial Times, wide-ranging exclusion zones (several kilometres wide in one case) will be set up around the companies' UK offices and factories. Protests will also be barred or heavily curtailed in areas surrounding the homes of senior employees at the firms concerned (namely Asahi Glass, Daichi Pharmaceuticals, Eisai, Sankyo Pharmaceuticals and Yamanouchi Pharmaceuticals).

The measures follow in the wake of allegations of a terror campaign by animal rights protesters against HLS's Japanese customers. HLS has been under sustained attack from campaigners opposed to product testing on animals for some time now, as we reported in February's edition of SMT ('Legitimate protest... or terrorism', pp26-29).

These exclusion zones mirror measures ordered by the High Court earlier this year to protect employees at HLS.

Source

SMT