An anti-vegan protester was seemingly arrested in London yesterday after eating a dead squirrel in front of shocked onlookers at a vegan market.
A video clip of the scene showed the pony-tailed man grasping the decapitated squirrel as he spoke calmly with police after ripping it open and eating its innards at the market.
He also had what appeared to be a roasted woodcock tied around his neck and a vest top donning the message ‘VEGANISM = MALNUTRITION’.
The man is YouTuber ‘Sv3rige aka Goatis’ and the clip shows him being cuffed and searched by police outside Soho Vegan Market on Rupert Street.
Earlier, he and another male were caught on camera ripping into a non-skinned squirrel and eating it in the middle of stalls at the vegan market.
One onlooker can be heard asking him: ‘Why are you doing this? I eat meat, but I don’t do this.’
He told Metro before his latest stunt: ‘My message is that veganism is malnutrition and the reason I and other people eat raw meat is to show what humans eat in nature.
The man pictured with the animal and appearing to be arrested outside a vegan market
He said that vegans see veganism as a religion and added: ‘They blindly believe we can go from eating meat to just eating plants like a cow, but we can’t as humans.’
A spokesperson for The Vegan Society dismissed Sv3ridge’s claims, saying: ‘It is perfectly possible to get all the nutrients your body needs as a vegan; the British Dietetic Association shares the message that vegan diets are suitable for people of all ages and life stages.’
Met Police said two people were arrested for public order offences but did not confirm if the YouTuber was one of them.
‘There were protests at the venue and it is in relation to that for public order arrests were made,’ a spokesperson said.
In one of his recent YouTube clips Sv3rige explains that he is on a tour of the UK and makes a plea for funding from his viewers because he ‘didn’t realise’ how expensive travel was in the UK.
The pony-tailed protester had a top with an anti-vegan message and two animal bodies
A later comment on one of his videos appeared to confirm he is on his way to Scotland and Belfast having raised the funds necessary.
He is the same man who a ate a raw pig’s head outside a vegan food festival in Brighton last week, the latest in a series of publicity stunts that also included eating raw chicken at a vegan Sunday market in Los Angeles a month ago.
He said he and his group have now been banned from the event.
The second carcass the man had appears to be a bird. Pictured right being cuffed by police
The protester was confronted by members of the Brighton chapter of Direct Action Everywhere, an animal rights group, holding ‘it’s not food, it’s violence’ and ‘meat is murder’ signs, the Brighton and Hove Independent reported.
Pictures show the meat-eater bringing the raw pig’s head directly to his mouth and tearing off flesh – with no apparent sign of enjoyment.
Shortly after the pictures of the Brighton rally were disseminated, the vegan group issued a statement referring to how uncomfortable meat-eaters are made by ‘seeing the faces of the animals they eat’.
These claims were corroborated by Tim Barford, Vegfest UK manager, who said that many people who saw the man gnawing on the severed hog head actually turned to veganism.
He told the Brighton paper: ‘What was interesting was that we had meat eating members of the public saying that this revolting spectacle had encouraged them to give up eating meat – so it seems the anti-vegan protest actually encouraged people to go vegan.’
He added: ‘We knew about the planned protest and were expecting 30 protesters.
Pictures show the man bringing the raw pig’s head directly to his mouth to make his point
The protester holds the head surrounded by placards. The man and his affiliation have not been confirmed but it appears to be the same man who was recorded eating a squirrel
‘Three turned up, which was slightly sad for them and reminiscent of a Nigel Farage march.
‘But they proceeded to upset kids and members of the public, and with that in mind, the police arrived, gave them a warning and sent them packing.’
It follows several ‘direct action’ protests by the pro-vegan group in Brighton which have also ruffled feathers.
These protests include the vegans marching into a restaurant with ‘meat is murder’ signs, and blocking shoppers’ access to food in a supermarket.
One of the protesters held up a sign with a cow on it with the slogan ‘I want to live’
According to DxE, more than ten million pigs, aged about five to six months old, are killed each year in slaughterhouses.
They were most recently seen in a branch of Jamie’s Italian, the restaurant chain owned by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.
The group sent out a statement saying they were the victim of police brutality but when approached by Mail Online, Sussex Police rubbished these claims.
A woman who claimed to have been pushed by the female officer behind her Friday night
The force were called by restaurant staff after around 25 peaceful protesters with a megaphone breached the restaurant in Brighton’s city centre on Friday night.
Families eating out with their children were visibly shocked as the group formed a chain and chanted: ‘What do we want? Animal liberation! When do we want it? Now’.
Video recorded by the group shows one protester flying to the ground but an officer tells her to ‘stop intentionally throwing yourself to the ground’.
In December DxE Brighton formed a human chain around the meat aisle in Waitrose
Police threw water on all of the group’s claims, saying ‘nothing of what they’re citing’ took place.
In November, members of the group who stormed a steakhouse in the city, chanted ‘it’s not meat it’s violence’ and played sounds of cows being slaughtered were shouted down by a stag party who sang back at them ‘stand up if you love meat’.
The following month, a group protested holding shocking placards and forming a human chain around Christmas turkeys in Waitrose in Hove.
But on Good Morning Britain Piers Morgan challenged three group members – Ashti, Ella and Dylan – who refused to answer whether their parents eat meat.
When they finally admitted some of their parents are not vegan like them, the GMB presenter claimed they should be protesting against their parents – instead of ‘terrorising old people in supermarkets’.
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