Description
Animal Rebellion is an animal and climate justice movement with the stated aim of compelling government action towards a plant-based food system. Their justification for the introduction of such a system is the impact of animal agriculture on climate change, species extinction and ecosystem breakdown. It has around 100 organisers and was founded in London in June 2019 by 12 people, including Daniel Kidby, and Alex Lockwood of the University of Sunderland.
Animal Rebellion use civil disobedience methods that sometimes get them arrested. These include graffiti, trespassing onto livestock industry premises, and street blockades. The movement states on it website that it is nonviolent and focuses its actions on systems, not individuals. Animal Rebellion often marches in protests together with Extinction Rebellion.
Protests
From 7 October 2019 to 19 October, Animal Rebellion organised a wave of civil disobedience in London and Berlin, in parallel to Extinction rebellion protests. Animal Rebellion protested in front of the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture, at Smithfield meat market, the largest UK meat market, and Billingsgate Fish Market, and at an abattoir in Farnborough, Hampshire, leading to several dozen arrests for obstruction of traffic and "obstruction or disruption of a person engaged in lawful activity". They reported that the abattoir protest was to highlight the role the farming industry plays in the climate crisis, as well as animal welfare issues and the conditions for abattoir workers.
In 2020, Animal Rebellion staged protests in the UK, Czechia and Ireland in September. In London, they dyed the Trafalgar Square fountain red, resulting in two arrests. In October, Animal Rebellion protested in Berlin (Germany) and Auckland (New Zealand).
Animal Rebellion protesters blocked the entrance of a Tnuva dairy logistics centre in Petah Tikva, Israel, in February 2021.
