Protesters have targeted a top York company this morning (Wednesday).
It happened at the Aviva annual general meeting, which was being held at the company’s offices on Wellington Row.
Campaign group Boycott Bloody Insurance claimed to be behind 12 people with shares in Aviva disrupting the AGM.
Several protesters shouting and chanting outside a boardroom were escorted or carried out of the building, delaying the start of the meeting.
The group claims Aviva underwrites or invests in companies profiting from immigration detention and surveillance, fossil fuel giants and weapons firms.
Andrew Taylor, a campaigner at Boycott Bloody Insurance said: “Aviva likes to present itself as an ethical business, but when you look at the companies it supports, that turns out to be a sham.”
A spokesperson at the scene confirmed to YorkMix that a “small number” of people took part.
“No further action has been taken against them,” he told YorkMix. “We absolutely support everybody’s right to peaceful protest.”
The campaigners involved had bought shares in Aviva, and as registered shareholders were entitled to be at the meeting.
Insiders said the AGM started a few minutes late, so disruption was kept to a minimum.
After the protest, security was heightened.
A member of security staff took a photograph of a YorkMix reporter without introducing themselves or explaining why. It came after the reporter took these pictures of the Aviva HQ from Lendal Bridge.
YorkMix was told the surveillance was due to security being particularly tight around the AGM.
Meanwhile, following a shareholder vote at the AGM, some 8.4% of votes were cast against the motion to approve Aviva’s climate-related financial disclosures for 2025, while 5.5% of votes were against approving the pay policy for directors.
Aviva’s chief executive Amanda Blanc took home a pay packet of £9.76 million last year.
