and from the link "Animalistic Behavior Against Novartis"The Austrian holiday home of Novartis Chief Executive Daniel Vasella was set on fire early on Monday morning, the latest of a string of attacks on the drugmaker, a spokesman for the Swiss group said on Tuesday.
Austrian police said they had not made any concrete findings yet but said on Monday that they were not ruling out arson.
The Novartis spokesman said that an investigator had told him that a fire accelerant had been found at the scene.
"There have been a series of terrorist-like attacks on individuals and company buildings. Last week, the graves of Dr. Vasella's parents were desecrated and the urn with the ashes of his mother was stolen," the spokesman said.
"In the case of the desecration of the grave, it was animal right activists," he said, adding that the authorities were currently investigating the incident.
He also said that animal rights activists are also suspected of being behind a number of other attacks, including employees' cars being damaged in Germany and Switzerland late last year and early this year as well as a fire at a sports facility in France in May.
"That (sports facility fire) was arson," the spokesman said. "These groups are against animal testing, which is required in our industry. This is something we try to avoid whenever possible, but it is something we have to do by law," the spokesman said.
A spokesperson says there's been an escalating series of attacks beginning last December with employees' cars being destroyed, "amateurish" explosive devices being placed under car tires (they didn't go off), employee homes being vandalized and the company's tennis center at HQ in Europe being set on fire. No one has been hurt or killed.
But then, on July 16th the spokesperson says slogans were painted on the roadway leading up to Mr. Vasella's main residence. Are you ready? According to the spokesperson they said, "Vasella is a killer. We are watching you. Death to Vasella. We'll be back." Other stuff, I'm told, was even more crude.
Animal rights extremists target Novartis
Disgusting. Dispite the fact that tests involving animals are down 70% compared to 25 years ago, these morons are still doing this bullshit.Animal rights extremists target Novartis
The holiday home of Novartis chairman and CEO Daniel Vasella has burnt down, a week after his mother's grave was desecrated by animal rights militants.
Although police do not know who or what caused the fire early on Monday morning in the Tyrol, there is speculation that it is the work of the same group that took the urn of Vasella's mother on July 27.
Her gravestone was defiled with a message saying the Basel pharmaceutical company must sever its ties with Britain's Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the largest contract animal-testing company in Europe.
The recent attacks bear the hallmarks of British extremists Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), which in recent months has reportedly targeted Novartis in France, burning down a sports centre and setting fire to company cars.
On Tuesday evening Austrian police confirmed they were "probably" dealing with a criminal act and that they were investigating all possible angles – "including SHAC".
A spokeswoman for SHAC denied any involvement in the recent events, but added that the organisation had many sympathisers "who support our goals". In a statement SHAC said it was willing to meet Novartis and discuss these issues, "but our campaign against them will continue until they stop using HLS".
Grave-robbing is not a new tactic. In October 2004 the Animal Rights Militia (ARM) – which has also targeted Novartis – claimed responsibility for removing from a grave the mother-in-law of a British farm-owner who bred guinea pigs for HLS.
Swiss security services say they have noticed increases in animal rights violence for some time. According to the Swiss Federal Police Office, in 2007 a sixth of cases involving violent extremism involved animal-rights activists.
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- PeZook
