Seven activists today held a mobile demo against the University of Bradford’s animal testing facilities and highlighting the barbarism happening inside them.

JACOB’S WELL
First stop was the Bradford Council Jacob’s Well office, due to the Mayor of Bradford, John Godward, sitting on the board of management at the University of Bradford. A large banner was held outside the offices and eveybody inside was well informed about Mayor Goodward’s complicity in animal cruelty and scientific fraud.

MAYOR’S OFFICE – CITY HALL
Our next stop was City Hall where the Mayor has his office. Outside the front, leaflets were given out informing the public about his connections with vivisection. Chants outside of “Mayor Goodward – Blood on Your Hands” made sure the demo was noticed by those passing by and those who work inside the offices.

YORKSHIRE FORWARD – MANCHESTER STREET
Following the demo at City Hall, we moved onto the Bradford offices of university funder Yorkshire Forward. YF are providing money for the privatisation of Bradford Uni’s animal testing laboratories by B2N (Behaviour to Neurochemistry) so will certainly be a major focus for our demonstrations. In the shared building YF occupy, many members of staff from other companies came out to take information and wish the campaign luck.

BRADFORD UNIVERSITY
We can’t be doing demo’s in Bradford without visiting the university, so up there we went to the IPI animal testing laboratories. Chanting echo’d around the area and leaflets were given out to the public. Bradord University were also openly challenged over the megaphone, infront of students, to come and have a scientific debate and defend their vivisection publicly. We somehow doubt they will!

The demo then moved on upto the Richmond Building, occupied by all the administrative offices and School of Pharmacy who conduct vivisection in the IPI. For some reason, the university didn’t like us using megaphones and informing everybody around about their ‘life saving research’ testing Cocaine and Ketamine on animals. Nor did they like the fact we openly announced that we have a number of top-researchers who conduct real science who denounce what is happening inside the animal laboratories at the university, so it was time for them to attempt to put their thumb on it! The Deputy Head of Security decided to shadow one activist on the megaphone, constantly trying to intimidate before kicking activists off campus due to some mutual aggreement (when was this agreed?!) being breeched by us shouting. Obviously they hoped we would shut up and put up, however we moved to the enterance to the campus and made just as much noise which echo’d just the same around the campus. A local radio reporter also came down and did interviews with activists about the campaign.

We will make it clear that no matter how many times we are kicked off campus, we will not stop fighting for the animals dying on cage floors inside the University of Bradford’s laboratories until the vivisection unit is closed down once and for all.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead