HOUSTON — Halliburton Co.'s annual shareholders meeting drew about 500 protesters Wednesday, and five who entered the hotel where it was held and shouted chants were arrested for trespassing.
Four men and a woman went to the third floor of the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston shortly before Halliburton's meeting and shouted outside the meeting room: "Oil is not worth human blood" and "Make more ethical investment decisions."
They didn't enter the meeting itself, which was not contentious and lasted just 37 minutes. The event drew protests because of the oil services conglomerate's role as a major U.S. contractor in Iraq and because it was formerly run by Vice President Dick Cheney.
The protest outside began to disperse after about two hours, long after the more than 50 shareholders left.
The company has been awarded as much as $6 billion in contracts related to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but Halliburton has been under fire for allegedly overcharging the government. Halliburton says the company is a political target and denies wrongdoing.
More than 24,000 workers and subcontractors for Halliburton subsidiary KBR, formerly known as Kellogg, Brown & Root, work in the Iraq-Kuwait region. Their duties include extinguishing oil well fires and cleaning oil sites. They can earn up to $120,000 tax-free for a year's service with overtime pay.
Thirty-five Halliburton workers have been killed there, many of whom were truck drivers. About 100 others have been injured. The violence toward civilians prompted some companies, including Siemens AG and General Electric, to suspend some operations in the region, but Dave Lesar, Halliburton chairman, president and CEO, reiterated Halliburton's resolve.
"We're committed to the mission and we're going to stay the course," he said.
In the meeting, Halliburton shareholders elected directors. They also overwhelmingly rejected proposals to split the duties of chairman and CEO between two people and to establish a committee of directors to review company operations in Iran.
Halliburton shares dropped 27 cents to close at $28.61 on the New York Stock Exchange.