A vegan movement in Britain is planning a number of protests against the meat industry targeting everything from butchers to abattoirs and farms.
The Earthlings Movement hope to persuade people to give up all animal products.
This comes after the editor of Waitrose Food magazine, William Sitwell, had to resign last week after he jokingly suggested a series of ‘killing vegans, one by one’.
The Earthlings protests are peaceful, with masked campaigners standing in circles holding laptops screening ‘horrific’ films of abattoirs to spark public interest
There are currently 650,000 vegans in Britain which has quadrupled since 2011
His comment which coincides with demonstrations on animal rights this weekend in London and Brighton received a huge amount of backlash on social media.
There are currently 650,000 vegans in Britain which has quadrupled since 2011.
‘Veganism has been around a long time,’ Phoebe Frampton, who founded the Earthlings movement in 2013, told The Sunday Times.
‘It used to be a dietary and health issue but modern vegans see it as being about animal rights and animal liberation.’
Up to 27 UK towns and cities have groups staging regular protests and 50 more around the world.
The editor of Waitrose Food magazine, William Sitwell (pictured), had to resign last week after he jokingly suggested a series of ‘killing vegans, one by one’
The Earthlings protests are peaceful, with masked campaigners standing in circles holding laptops screening ‘horrific’ films of abattoirs to spark public interest.
However, critics see their beliefs as extreme with modern veganism goes far beyond giving up meat, fish and dairy. It also means giving up honey, silk, leather shoes and even beeswax furniture polish.
There are, however, vegan groups that take a more militant approach.
Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), founded in the US in 2013, now has five ‘chapters’ in Britain. One of them invaded a branch of Tesco in Brighton last month, with 30 protesters staging a ‘silent protest’ in the meat aisle.
Some farmers dispute the claims of non-violence. John Wood, a Dorset farmer, set up the Facebook Meat & Greet site to promote lamb and beef, but says he was targeted by ‘frightening’ militants.
‘We have had animal liberationists turning up at our home and shouting abuse. Most of these people may be bunny-huggers, but some are dangerous,’ he said.