Wednesday 23rd March – You Make Profit, We Get Sick

The anti-vivisection tour of Bristol was more confusing than anyone could ever have predicted. One group of activists set of early to say good morning to the joyous staff of Astrazeneca as they prepared for another day in the miseries of Avonmouth. The only warmth in their welcome was in the cup of coffee,thrown over an activist by a worker shouting “I don't give a f**k, I'm a huntsman”. Hardly surprising for people on the site to have their fingers in more than one cruelty pie now, is it?
After an hour of noise at this site, it was decided Astra Tech just across in Gloucestershire was in need of a visit, so they packed up, bid their fair wells and set off. There was a tremendous display of support from the public at this site, even if there weren't many of them. The staffs reaction was less friendly, and more resembled closing all their curtains and hiding away, every so often peeping a camera out to film. We can only hope that they're watching it over and over, being constantly reminded of the cruelty caused by the company they work for.
Astra Tech are just another branch of Astrazeneca, the company who is not only responsible for large amounts of animals being tortured and murdered in their own labs, but also one of the top customers of HLS. It would seem they just can't satisfy their sadistic needs within their own labs, they feel the need to pay for more suffering inside Europes largest animal testing lab as well.
Unfortunately, the police held those activists up with some long winded attempts to take details. But while that was happening another car full of activists went and paid Dycem a visit. This company advertises itself in disgusting places like the 'Lab Animals Buyers Guide' as constructing for the vivisection industry, so were definitely deserving of attention being brought to. With any luck the placards and banners that surrounded them will make them feel a tremendous amount of shame over their despicable business, and they'll rethink where they market themselves from now on!
Here's where the day got confusing, the two groups met up to go and demonstrate against AXA (large investors in Astrazeneca, who claim to have “ethical policies”) but....where have they gone? The two sites on the outskirts of Bristol appear to have disappeared, one of them was empty and the other taken over by another company. Choosing to treat this as some sort of good sign, everyone moved onto HRP, who supply cooling equipment to HLS, to let them know what their opinion of HRP is. Given the location, a demonstration served little purpose, so some of the activists went inside to complain formally about their dealings, and then moved on.
The final stop for the day now, an AXA in a very central visible position. A very noisy but peaceful demonstration took place, ensuring that the public and the employees were able to see through their lies about ethics. People were shocked to learn of the pain and suffering AXA funds, and were very supportive.
Unfortunately there are more places in Bristol connected with the vivisection industry that couldn't be demonstrated against that day, but they know who they are, and they can't avoid people's anger and disgust about their dirty business forever!