RWE Stockholders Meeting 2016
RWE stockholders meeting 2016 in Essen (Germany) was met with outside protest and constant inside disruptions by over 70 activists from groups ranging from Fossil Free and Greenpeace to groups and projects engaging in anti coal blockades and direct actions such as Hambacher Forest, Robin Wood and Indigenous Groups from Siberia resisting the eviction of their villages by coal mining projects linked to RWE. The protests and actions started a day before and during the night with stencils on the pavement and walls around the headquarters of RWE and the convention centre. During the morning tables, banners and inflatables were set up outside of the entrance to the convention hall that was being guarded by both local police on the outside and private security firms inside. Approximately 40 activists got inside as part of the Critical Shareholders action to be at first met with pat down and metal detector searches followed by a large dose of green washing displays and presentations. All the computer stations containing RWE propaganda were promptly redirected to the home page of the Hambach Forest occupation http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/information-about-the-forest/ and remained showing an eco/defense response to coal mining info, attentively read throughout the meeting by stockholders, next to RWE employees happily handing out corporate schwag. Before the actual meeting begun, the setting was rather surreal with activists connecting and taking Virtual Reality tours of RWE coal mines and its diggers, as waiters served drinks to an older and more conservative demographic all around.
