Vegan Protestors Storm Supermarket And Try To Stop Customers From Buying Meat

A group of animal rights protesters stormed a supermarket and tried to stop customers from buying meat products.

The band of 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, on Sunday.

Some of the protesters had their mouths taped shut and held up signs which said "Stop eating animals" and "It's not food it's violence".

The stunt was filmed and posted online. In the video, frustrated shoppers can be heard shouting abuse at the protestors, claiming their actions were "disgusting" and telling them to leave the store.

One customer 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."

YouTube/Delta Wolfepine

While another angry customer lashed out, shouting: "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."

However, Anna Rippon, the the leader of the group, 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 did eventually leave the store, shouting "It's not food it's violence" as they did.

Another member of the group, Deno Stokes, defended their actions and claimed they weren't 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."

YouTube/Delta Wolfepine

In a statement released by Countdown, 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 said: "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 added: "The police were called to support our team and the protesters left shortly afterwards."

Topics: New Zealand, World News, Interesting, Vegan, Animals

Dominic Smithers

Dominic graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History. Like you, Dom has often questioned how much use a second language has been. Well, after stints working at the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express, along with never setting foot in France, he realised the answer is surprisingly little. But I guess, c'est la vie. Contact us at [email protected]

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