On Saturday 14 May 2005, Selfridges felt the full force of Midlands anti-fur protesters anger, as the biggest ever Birmingham Selfridges demo hit the city streets!!
A total of 25 protesters attended the demo. Many were from Birmingham whilst others travelled from across the Midlands including Leicester, Nottingham, Coventry, Leamington, Worcester & Wolverhampton!
Simultaneous protests were held at Selfridges stores in London & Manchester, as part of the Week of Action organsied by the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade.
Due to the Bullring Shopping Centre`s private land, our protest was restricted to the end of New Street but that turned out to be a far more effective place to demo anyway, with many 1,000`s of people walking past every hour!! Our 6ft white rabbit was a real crowd puller as he beat a drum and danced in the street.(pic below)
A huge 7ft tall banner was made specially for the occasion.(pic below) To prevent the banner acting like a sail in the wind, numerous holes were cut into the lettering! With the help of a second smaller banner and numerous graphic posters, the general public could not fail to get the message that Selfridges profit from the misery & death of 1,000`s of innocent rabbits every year.
Before the protest began, police and Bullring security were ready & waiting, clearly their `intelligence` had been tipped off. With a total of 17 officers at one point, we wonder what on earth they were expecting! A member of Selfridges staff pleaded with the police to do something but she was informed, that our protest was entirely legal. No police approached us at any point during the demo!
A megaphone erupted periodically, informing the public of exactly why we were there. Whenever the megaphone stopped, the beating of drums and loud chanting began - "fur trade, death trade - boycott Selfridges" etc. Whilst many campaigners concentrated on the visual/audible protest, half a dozen others distributed leaflets to the masses. Approx 2,500 were handed out during the course of the demo! On top of that, around 300 complaint postcards were given out, many of which were eagerly stamped & posted immediately!
After 4 hours of educating the public about Selfridges barbaric trade in fur, the protest came to an end but we left Selfridges in no doubt that more demos will follow if they refuse to adopt an ethical fur-free policy.
We later learnt that during the demo, some activists had sneaked off several times, past the security and into Selfridges! Apparently, leaflets were left in coat/trouser pockets all over the store, staff and customers may still be finding them for weeks/months to come!!
For loads more pics from the demo, check out the West Midlands Animal Action website below. For more info on the horrific fur trade, check out the CAFT website www.caft.org.uk
Simultaneous protests were held at Selfridges stores in London & Manchester, as part of the Week of Action organsied by the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade.
Due to the Bullring Shopping Centre`s private land, our protest was restricted to the end of New Street but that turned out to be a far more effective place to demo anyway, with many 1,000`s of people walking past every hour!! Our 6ft white rabbit was a real crowd puller as he beat a drum and danced in the street.(pic below)
A huge 7ft tall banner was made specially for the occasion.(pic below) To prevent the banner acting like a sail in the wind, numerous holes were cut into the lettering! With the help of a second smaller banner and numerous graphic posters, the general public could not fail to get the message that Selfridges profit from the misery & death of 1,000`s of innocent rabbits every year.
Before the protest began, police and Bullring security were ready & waiting, clearly their `intelligence` had been tipped off. With a total of 17 officers at one point, we wonder what on earth they were expecting! A member of Selfridges staff pleaded with the police to do something but she was informed, that our protest was entirely legal. No police approached us at any point during the demo!
A megaphone erupted periodically, informing the public of exactly why we were there. Whenever the megaphone stopped, the beating of drums and loud chanting began - "fur trade, death trade - boycott Selfridges" etc. Whilst many campaigners concentrated on the visual/audible protest, half a dozen others distributed leaflets to the masses. Approx 2,500 were handed out during the course of the demo! On top of that, around 300 complaint postcards were given out, many of which were eagerly stamped & posted immediately!
After 4 hours of educating the public about Selfridges barbaric trade in fur, the protest came to an end but we left Selfridges in no doubt that more demos will follow if they refuse to adopt an ethical fur-free policy.
We later learnt that during the demo, some activists had sneaked off several times, past the security and into Selfridges! Apparently, leaflets were left in coat/trouser pockets all over the store, staff and customers may still be finding them for weeks/months to come!!
For loads more pics from the demo, check out the West Midlands Animal Action website below. For more info on the horrific fur trade, check out the CAFT website www.caft.org.uk
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Top Marks
17.05.2005 08:43
I regarded the fur argument as one we had won some time ago so I was surprised to hear the amount of fur sales have been increasing year on year for the last six years. $11.7 billion last year, compared with $11.3 billion in 2002-2003.
We might continue the fight to prevent anybody having the choice to buy fur. If education of the buying public has not convinced them then we must enforce our views on them by more direct means.
Lilly