A group of animal rights protesters disrupted a local supermarket and attempted to stop customers from purchasing meat products.
The animal lovers from Direct Action Everywhere were dressed in black and formed a human barricade along the meat aisle at the Countdown supermarket in Auckland, New Zealand this past month.
Some protesters had their mouths taped shut and held up signs which said “Stop eating animals,” and “It’s not food it’s violence.”
One customer in the video says:
“Get out of my face. I’m disgusted you guys are even here in my supermarket when I’m buying my food. You disgust me.”
While another became enraged, yelling:
“Take your camera off me! I’m doing my f***ing shopping! I’m doing my shopping lady, unless you’re going to pay for my shopping you can f*** off.”
But the leader of the group, Anna Rippon, said it was “peaceful.”
In the video, she says:
“We are here on a peaceful protest for the victims who don’t get seen or heard behind closed doors and are lying dead behind us now.”
The protesters left finally, while shouting:
“It’s not food it’s violence” as they did.
Deno Stokes, another member of the group, defended their actions saying they were not doing anything extreme.
He said:
“The way those animal parts have been put in the supermarket is far more extreme than what we’re doing. We’re not doing any damage, we’re just standing with the signs and raising awareness.”
The company said it is “committed” to animal welfare and was forced to call the police to have the group removed.
A spokesperson for the supermarket shared:
“As a supermarket we work hard to provide our vegan and vegetarian customers with good quality and affordable options in our stores, and we are also deeply committed to good animal welfare practices throughout our supply chain. We reserve the right to ask anyone undertaking protest action to leave our stores, however on this occasion this request was ignored several times.”
They continued, adding:
“The police were called to support our team and the protesters left shortly afterwards.”