The annual shareholder meeting of oil giant Shell in London saw some chaotic scenes after climate protesters barged in, calling for the company to be "shut down" and accusing it of "killing" the planet. The protesters even tried to climb onto the stage due to which the security staff shielded Chief Executive Wael Sawan and the firm's board of directors. News agency Reuters said that the security staff formed a human chain on stage to shield Mr Sawan, Chairman Andrew Mackenzie and other company directors.
The videos of their attempt to reach the stage have been posted by several journalists as well as activist group Follow This. The clips showed a cluster of attendees standing up and singing "Go to hell, Shell, and don't you come back no more" to the tune of Hit the Road Jack by Ray Charles.
The disruption caused a delay in the meeting after which the protesters were removed from ExCeL London exhibition centre.
CNBC said the shareholders' meeting was scheduled to begin at 10 am (London time) but a series of disruption delayed it for more than an hour.
Tuesday's meeting highlighted the growing tension the oil giant and its peers face as they try to navigate growing investor pressure to accelerate their shift away from oil and gas while other shareholders focus on profit after record earnings last year.
Shell's climate strategy resolution won 80 per cent support from voting shareholders, according to preliminary results, in line with last year.
A shareholder resolution filed by activist group Follow This, calling on Shell to set more ambitious targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, won support from a fifth of the voters, also unchanged from a similar resolution last year.
The activist resolution echoes a Dutch court ruling demanding that Shell ramps up its climate targets. Shell has launched an appeal against the ruling.
The company aims to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and has set several short and medium-term emission targets but has so far rejected calls to set 2030 goals to reduce absolute emissions.
