Four concerned consumers entered the Torquay branch of Sainsburys this Saturday (the 15th) and applied warning stickers to their own brand meat and dairy products. Three years ago Sainsburys promised to phase out the practice of feeding GM to the animals which make their own brand products, and leaving them unlabeled. Along with the other major retailers (apart from Marks and Spencer and the Co op) they haven’t yet done so.

The action followed on from a similar event last week, and security was soon overheard discussing the presence of activists in the store. Two of them were then identified and given a verbal banning from Sainsburys (although the normal procedure for banning entails completion of a form, which never materialized). Such was their level of panic that staff were called to start searching through the labeled meat and dairy shelves before all the protesters had left the aisles.

The four then regrouped in the carpark to decide what to do next. Security and management approached them and asked them all to leave, refusing a comment for the record on why they were censoring the labeling of their products. Attempts were made by one of the group to give out leaflets in the car park, and security staff became quite aggressive and pushed them off site. On seeing this a person who introduced himself as an off duty police officer, approached them and explained that the public had a right to freedom of expression in a public place and the car park, because it provides a public service, and had a different legal status to the inside of the store. On hearing this security allowed leafleting to continue. Meanwhile the others set up their banner at the roundabout entrance to the shop, and started leafleting the customers driving in and out of the car park. Being Saturday morning the traffic was heavy to the point of gridlock, and so a steady stream of shoppers were happy to wind their windows down as they passed and collect some information to read while they queued for parking space.

Apparently unnoticed by the store for an hour or so they eventually came to the attention of management, who came out as an army of seven or so flustered staff supervisors, deputy managers, and. senior management. They watched from a distance and called the police. Who turned out to be one female copper who only ate organic and wasn’t sure if the group was contravening traffic laws or not. As there were only six or so leaflets left anyway (out of an original pile of two hundred), the group decided to call it a day. They left to the gratifying sounds of the police officer trying to explain to a rather shocked and distinguished looking shopper that, although the staff were behaving rudely to the protesters, she couldn’t do anything about it.