Around 500 animal rights activists gathered in London today (August 28) to protest animal cruelty, bringing traffic to a halt in the city.
Animal rights protesters from Animal Rebellion, an offshoot of climate change group Extinction Rebellion, Camp Beagle, a group calling for the release of beagle dogs from a Cambridgeshire breeding facility, and other groups gathered outside Smithfield Market in Farringdon.
They held a rally for speeches before marching through the city and stopping at Blackfriars station, the offices of food company Unilever and other businesses in the city.
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Activists held banners and signs saying ‘Unite for Animal Justice’, ‘Free the MBR Beagles’ and ‘Meat is Murder’.
Protesters stood against the MBR Acres site in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, where beagles are bred for medical and veterinary research.
The PA news agency reported that a member of Animal Rebellion told the crowd that Unilever contacted their group after their campaign, which was met with cheers.
Speeches were held, the event lasted about 20 minutes and hundreds of people gathered to protest the breeding of dogs for animal research.
The Metropolitan Police tweeted that there was a blockage at Blackfriars Bridge due to protesters and it was resolved shortly after.
Protesters then staged a sit-in outside the offices of Cargill, an agricultural company, on nearby Queen Victoria Street.
MBR Acres, owned by the American company Marshall BioResources, has already been put in the spotlight by Camp Beagle.
The protest group has already traveled to MBR Acres in a bid to end testing of some 2,000 beagle puppies.
On July 22, protesters staged an all-day protest outside the beagle’s breeding ground.
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