Halliburton hullabaloo in Houston

This protest was really a blast, and drew a pretty good crowd for Houston financial district at 8am on a weekday. There was a lot of creativity.
Lots of pictures on http://www.houston.indymedia.org
It was loud and fun, but it was also the first time that I ever saw Houston police [so vicious towards] protesters, although it was just the officers on horseback.

They had to call for more barricades, and then set them up basically on top of people, and a couple of officers rammed their horses in between the barricades and the people ON THE SIDEWALK, and for no apparent reason. The also pushed their horses at an alarming rate right into the crowd that staged the die-in on the steps of the Halliburton building 2 blocks away. The dead moved pretty quick, but I was sure that someone's head would be stepped on by thousand-pound horses.

All and all, it was a big success. We really appreciate the people who came from the Bay Area and elsewhere.

(some of these links did not work, but I was able to find the articles by poking around on the page.)

wendy



Date: Thu, 20 May 2004 11:05:02 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Scott" <sparki [at] riseup.net>
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Protests cause stir at annual meeting
Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2580977

Anti-war protest targets Halliburton
Financial Times
Five Protesters Arrested at Halliburton Meeting
Reuters (SJ Mercury News, SF Chronicle, Miami Herald, Houston Business Journal, Globe and Mail, CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, etc.)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?

Halliburton faces protests
Associated Press (Atlanta Journal Constitution, San Diego Union Tribune,
LA Times, etc. )
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20040520/4008840.asp

Protesters roast Halliburton over war contracts
Montreal Gazette
http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/business/story.html?id=b4db6628-dc5a-4693-9c06-ad3d10138f5b

Halliburton Shareholders Meet while Protestors Gather
NPR
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kuhf/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=640734

Halliburton Actions
(lots of photos)
http://www.houston.indymedia.org/

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Five Protesters Arrested at Halliburton Meeting
Wed May 19, 2004 02:05 PM ET

By Matt Daily and Erwin Seba

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Five people were arrested as hundreds of protesters
chanting "war profiteers" converged on Iraq contractor Halliburton Co.'s
annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday.

The four men and one woman arrested were charged with trespassing after
they entered the downtown Houston hotel where the meeting was being held and handcuffed themselves to railings, a police spokeswoman said.

In a prepared statement, Halliburton said it respected the rights of
protesters to demonstrate, but said it would continue its work in Iraq
under the U.S. military contracts.

"Even if they don't have the facts right, they have a right to speak up,"
Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall said in the statement.

Mounted police pushed back a group of about 30 protesters who were trying to block traffic in front of Halliburton's executive offices about two
blocks from the hotel.

Halliburton's engineering and construction arm, KBR, formerly known as
Kellogg Brown & Root, is the U.S. military's largest contractor in Iraq,
with contracts that could eventually be worth $18 billion.

In the past year, 35 KBR employees have been killed in Iraq and another
100 wounded, Chief Executive and Chairman Dave Lesar told shareholders, but the company would "stay the course" of supporting the U.S. military in the field.

'LIGHTNING ROD'

"Halliburton continues to be in a very unique position, I believe probably
the most scrutinized company in corporate America today, and certainly a
lightning rod for a number of issues," Lesar told reporters after the
meeting.

On Monday, military auditors said they would suspend $159.5 million in
payments for food services billed by KBR because of incomplete files and
bills submitted by its subcontractors.

The Pentagon is also investigating whether KBR overcharged for fuel
brought into Iraq.

Protest organizers said the company had become a symbol of the U.S.
occupation in Iraq, and questioned its relationship with its former chief
executive, Vice President Dick Cheney.

"I think this is the worst example of cronyism. It sends a terrible
message around the world," Medea Benjamin, co-founder of women's group Code Pink, told Reuters.

At the meeting, shareholders approved a proposal to allow the company to
increase its authorized common stock by 67 percent to 1 billion from 600
million. The company currently has about 440 million shares outstanding.

Halliburton has not indicated whether it would issue new shares, but said
the measure would give it the flexibility to issue or reserve common stock
without calling a special shareholder meeting.

The proposal also authorized the issuance of 5 million preferred shares.
The company currently has no outstanding preferred shares.

A shareholder proposal sponsored by the United Association S&P 500 Index Fund requiring the chief executive officer and chairman positions be held by different people failed to gain approval. Dave Lesar currently holds
both titles.

Another proposal brought by New York City Police and Fire Departments
pension funds for the company to address financial and reputational damage from its operations in Iran also failed to pass.

The company has said its Iranian operations did not harm the company's
reputation, and were run through a foreign subsidiary and so did not
violate a ban on U.S. companies operating in states the U.S. government
has designated as "sponsors of terrorism."
© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.