Today, groups from the climate justice, Palestine liberation and migrants rights movements held protests in cities across England. Protests took place in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Lancaster, Guildford, Blackburn and Preston. With groups targeting the offices of Aviva, AIG, Allianz and Axa.
2 people were arrested for climbing a building to drop a banner in central London, while other protesters ‘crashed’ insurers offices and occupied foyers. Marches also took place in city centres, including the City of London.
Andrew Taylor for Boycott Bloody Insurance said: “Insurers underwrite weapons, detention centres, and fossil fuels, causing environmental destruction, human rights abuses and genocide. We are calling on organisations across the UK to boycott deadly insurance companies. Change starts in our communities. Deadly insurers profit from our local councils, churches, charities and schools. We need to hurt insurers’ bottom line to force them to stop cashing in on death and suffering.”
The campaign describes Boycott Bloody Insurance as an escalatory tactic, aimed at exposing insurers’ complicity in underwriting and in investing in migrant detention, border militarisation, fossil fuels and military equipment—including weapons used in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and weapons labelled ‘controversial’ under international law.
Groups involved in the protests include Coal Action Network, Palestine Youth Movement, Parents 4 Palestine, Energy Embargo for Palestine, Tipping Point UK, Youth Front for Palestine and Axe Drax.
Yara Derbas from the Palestinian Youth Movement said, “Insurance, just like logistics, is crucial for arms transfers to oppressive regimes. Our actions target the corporate complicity enabling Israel’s ongoing crimes. This isn’t just about Palestine—it’s about global justice and ending corporate exploitation.”
Malachi, the pseudonym of a member of the Shareholders Show Up campaign, said, “Like so many other people without British citizenship, I am being criminalised and punished, held hostage indefinitely, without the opportunity to rebuild my life. It feels like a slap in the face to see that Serco, meanwhile, is being given chance after chance, despite numerous allegations of racism and abuse, and previously being fined for fraud and false accounting related to GPS tagging. So why is Aviva insuring this?”
Research by Boycott Bloody Insurance has identified which insurers provide Employers’ Liability cover in the UK to deadly companies. Highlights include:
- Allianz underwrites Elbit Systems, the main supplier of arms to Israel.
- AVIVA underwrites PetroChina, the third-biggest fossil fuel company globally by revenue, as well as G4S and Serco, who run many of the UK’s migrant detention centres.
- AXA gives cover to Drax, the UK’s single largest carbon emitter.
- AIG underwrites BP, the 8th largest fossil fuel company globally and supplier of a third of Israels total oil supply during the genocide. They also insure Airbus, who are directly involved in nuclear arms through their subsidiary Ariane Group, producing the M51 submarine-launched ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads.
Boycott Bloody Insurance released a detailed report 2 weeks ago titled “Ensuring Genocide: The Insurance Industry and Israel’s War Machine”. It reveals that insurers including Allianz, Aviva, AXA, Zurich, and RSA collectively invested over $1.7 billion in companies supplying military equipment used by Israel since 7 October 2023.
