Code Rouge, an environmental protest group that uses civil disobedience, staged a protest at the headquarters of the French oil giant TotalEnergies in Brussels on Monday afternoon.
The demonstration aimed to highlight "the company's role in human rights violations and its warlike practices," the organisation explained in a press release.
Dressed in white overalls and spattered with fake blood, several activists laid motionless at the building’s entrance, pretending to be dead bodies.
"Companies like TotalEnergies are not just polluters; they also fuel wars and human rights violations worldwide," stated the spokesperson for Code Rouge, Rudi Neusbloem.
An initial plan to occupy the French company’s offices was abandoned due to significant police presence.
The action follows a series of protests by Code Rouge over the weekend. On Saturday, activists occupied the entrance of the company’s site at the Port of Antwerp for several hours. They also blocked access to the company’s Feluy site in Hainaut for about thirty hours.
Code Rouge is a civil disobedience movement which focuses on the fossil fuel industry and is supported by multiple (climate) organisations and groups.