WEST MIDLANDS Police have been dealing with a protest by animal rights activists at a McDonald’s Distribution Centre in Coventry.
Protestors from Animal Rebellion said they were targeting McDonald’s by blockading all four of their UK distribution centres, which supplied approximately 1,300 restaurants.
They added more than 50 protestors intended to blockade the site for at least 24 hours, using trucks and bamboo structures, causing significant disruption to the McDonald’s supply chain.
Animal Rebellion say that McDonalds is just a symbol of a much bigger problem, the entire animal agriculture industry. They are calling for a transition to plant-based food system to stop the climate crisis and end the suffering of animals.
Animal Rebellion, a mass movement using non-violent civil disobedience to call for a sustainable plant-based food system, is demanding McDonald’s becomes fully plant-based by 2025.
However, they say McDonald’s is just a symbol of the system they are trying to change, which is the entire animal agriculture industry.
James Ozden, a spokesperson for Animal Rebellion, said: “The meat and dairy industry is destroying our planet: causing huge amounts of rainforest deforestation, emitting immense quantities of greenhouse gases and killing billions of animals each year.
“The only sustainable and realistic way to feed ten billion people is with a plant-based food system. Organic, free-range and ‘sustainable’ animal-based options simply aren’t good enough.”
Officers remained at the centre in Canley and engaged with the company and activists who, police said, carried out their protest peacefully and there was no disruption to the community.
A police spokesperson said: “We recognise the right to a peaceful protest, we have asked the small group of activists to remain mindful of road users and in particular emergency vehicles and will continue to maintain an open dialogue with them.
“We continue to monitor the situation while this protest continues.”
