Climate change activists broke all the front windows of Schlumberger’s Gould research centre, on the University’s West Cambridge site, in the early hours of Monday (10/10).

The activists said the destruction was in response to flooding in Pakistan, which they attributed to climate change.

The direct action website This Is Not a Drill broke the news, revealing the centre was chosen for its alleged significance to the fossil fuel industry.

Schlumberger is the world’s largest offshore drilling company, and a top provider of oil and gas technology to fossil fuel companies around the world.

One activist said that Schlumberger does “untold harm to us”, and claimed that their Cambridge centre featured a “test oil drill connected to huge tanks of mud to simulate drilling the seabed”.

“We’re so tired from the anger and despair we feel towards the University of Cambridge, our government, and other institutions that are supposed to be doing good but constantly and by default do the opposite”, they said.

The activists also made it clear that they intended to escalate their direct action: “We’re done blocking roads and we’re done chanting. We’ve come to disarm fossil fuel companies wherever we find them and we call anyone else who can’t stand death and indifference any longer to join us.”

This event is the latest in a string of disruptions caused by climate change activists in Cambridge.

On a previous occasion, activists protested the University’s alleged research links and sponsorship deals with BP, Shell, and Schlumberger by throwing black paint at buildings belonging to the Chemistry and Maths departments.

Similarly, in January climate activists threw fake oil at Senate House, also to protest against the University’s links to Schlumberger.

More dramatically, at the end of Lent term last year, Extinction Rebellion blockaded Schlumberger's research centre using a pink boat and a fake oil rig. 

That protest resulted in several arrests before the activists eventually ended their blockade.