Smurfit Kappa AGM attracts protestors amid claims of 'environmental destruction'

Attended by a coalition of groups, demonstraters claimed the Irish company had engaged in a 'destructive land grab' in South America

Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons. Tony Smurfit of Smurfit Kappa Group plc

Shareholders attending packaging giant Smurfit Kappa's annual general meeting were met with a number of protestors on Friday morning, with activists calling the company out amid claims of "environmental destruction and human rights abuses," taking place in South America.

Staging the protest was activist-led Corporate Accountability Organisation, Ekō (formerly SumOfUs), Latin America Solidarity Campaign, and Environmental Paper Network, who together claimed the Irish company had engaged in a "destructive land grab, inflicting social and environmental damage" on the communities of Cauca in southwestern Colombia.