Halliburton Shareholders Protest in Houston, 16 Arrested

Breaking News from HIMC reporters in the field

9:00 am - As the shareholder's meeting begins, protestors from Duncan and other cities gathered outside to demonstrate beginning about 7:30 am. They are mostly located within a police protest pen surrounded by orange netting. The space is bigger than the demonstration at this point, but people are still arriving. There are local people from Duncan participating in the protest as well as locals simply out to see what is going on, snapping pictures and taking video of the events. A demonstrator in a Dick Cheney costume wearing jail clothing is running around handing out hallibacon bucks. The "eyes wide open" exhibit of combat boots to remember fallen soldiers is set up along the street and the Vets for Peace bus is parked out front. There is a big banner hung up reading, "Halliburton, serving dirty water to our troops, go directly to jail."

Hiram Myers, a 74 year old member of Vets for Peace is delivering an indictment, People of the US vs Halliburton CEO David Lesar, which charges Lasar with corruption, racketeering and endangering soldiers. Myers and about 10 others are preparing to attempt to enter the meeting and engage in a "citizens arrest" of Lesar. During his speech before heading out to attempt to enter the meeting, Myers said he is there out of love for the troops and the tax payers of the United States.

9:40 - As Hiram, using a walker to move about, and about 15 others, including several Houstonians, left the protest pen to go to the meeting, they were arrested by local law enforcement. They have had handcuffs put on them and are being loaded into a white police van to be taken to jail. Houston Global Awarenessmembers Katie Heim, Maureen Haver and Jennifer Rooks are reported to be among the arrested.

10:30 - The shareholder's meeting is over. Pratap Chatterjee, Robert Guimaraes Vásquez from Peru and Michael Keania Karikpo from Nigeria went into the meeting as shareholders and spoke during the public comment section of the meeting. They raised concerns about Halliburton's bribery of government officials in Nigera to secure a contract to constuct an LNG project, a pipline constructed throught pristine rainforest in the Peruvian Amazon with Texas-based Hunt Oil. As well as treatment of "third-world" labor subcontract workers and shoddy reconstruction of oil field facilities in Iraq. 3 nuns also went in and introduced a shareholder resolution about human rights issues that was ultimately defeated. Lesar only briefly talked with media reporters on the way out as media was shepherded onto a tour of Halliburton's technology center in Duncan. As shareholders left the meeting, they told media they were proud of Halliburton. When asked what she thought of the protest, one shareholder said, "These protestors do not know what they are talking about and it is sad they aren't better educated." As for the 16 people arrested, 15 were arrested knowlingly crossing the line of the protest pen and one was arrested for damaging the fence of the pen. Bail money has been raised and supporters are headed to the jail to wait for their release as the demonstration continues.

2:00 pm - All the arrested protestors are now free.