Vegan activist groups have shut down a major Melbourne intersection, and raided abattoirs in Victoria and Queensland.

To commuters, they’re a nuisance, a roadblock between home and work.

To farmers and workers at Australia’s meat production businesses, they’re a hindrance to Monday morning operations.

To Victoria’s Public Order Response Team, they’re a problem to be dealt with by force when all other means of reasoning fail.

To the Prime Minister, they’re “un-Australian”.

But the vegans who sat in the middle of Melbourne’s busiest intersection for four hours and chained themselves to conveyor belts at abattoirs around the country had a goal and they achieved it. At least partly.

Protestors being carried out of the middle of Swanston and Flinders streets now. Literally. @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/1trAsa59rv — Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) April 7, 2019

Seven vegan activists remain in the middle of Swanston and Flinders, blocking the intersection to trans and traffic, five hours after they arrived. @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/TL1VMX36aN — Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) April 7, 2019

They wanted attention and they got it.

They wanted animal liberation — loud chants declared exactly that echoed outside Flinders Street Station this morning.

More specifically, they wanted exposure for a film they say highlights how Australia’s consumption of animal products ignores a disturbing truth about where our food comes from.

This week marks one year since the release of the documentary Dominion, which uses drones and hidden cameras to expose “the dark underbelly of modern animal agriculture”.

The film, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, starts with a call to viewers to wake up.

“The picturesque family farm and the iconic loving farmer. A humane and painless end, a small price to pay for a life well-lived. An arrangement of mutual benefit,” the narrator begins.

“Hidden by this narrative, out of sight, out of mind, they cease to be individuals, most known only as ‘livestock’. Faceless units of production in a system of incomprehensible scale. Exempt from the cruelty laws that protect our companion animals.”

The documentary questions the “morality and validity of humankind’s dominion over the animal kingdom”.

Posters for the film were plastered over rental vans parked in the middle of Flinders and Swanston streets this morning. As the vehicles were hooked up to tow trucks and protesters were handcuffed and marched away, officers pulled the posters down and tossed them in the bin.

Bloke with his toddler in a pram tells protesters they’re “absolutely pathetic” for blocking the Melbourne CBD to push veganism. @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/V70uMG75xv — Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) April 7, 2019

Doctor of Paediatric Neuropsychology Helen Jeges was one of dozens of vegans in attendance.

She said the film, and the activists’ message, was about “opening people’s eyes to what they’re really paying for”.

“A lot of people don’t know that if you buy eggs, male chicks are ground up alive,” she told news.com.au.

Male chickens are shredded to death because they can’t produce eggs and not suitable for chicken-meat production.

“Male chicks are considered an unwanted byproduct of egg production and are killed and disposed of shortly after birth,” the RSPCA states.

“Once hatched, the newborn chicks pass down a production line to be sexed and sorted. Sick or weak female chicks and all male chicks are separated from the healthy female chicks and then killed.”

The chicks are killed by either by quick maceration or carbon dioxide, but gassing is considered more cruel because it can take upto two minutes to die.

Dr Jeges told news.com.au: “A lot of people don’t know that if you buy milk, (newborn) calves are sent to slaughter.”

She said she became vegan after watching footage of what was happening in dairies.

“I was really naive,” she said. “I thought cows just potted around giving milk. I later discovered that they were routinely impregnated — and their babies were taken away from them so that we could harvest their milk — and that if their babies were male they were sent straight to slaughter.

Helen says protesters arrived at 5.30am. She’s one of more than 100 vegans from all over Victoria who want to spread their message peacefully about “what people are really paying for”. @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/zHFpJhaEW8 — Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) April 7, 2019

“I was a mother. I was breastfeeding my own child and that really didn’t sit well with me.”

The message is one every vegan on the planet agrees with. But the means of delivering it were grating among the community.

Catherine Carr, who founded the website gentlyvegan.com.au, said protesters went about it entirely the wrong way.

“I’m a passionate vegan, and I understand why someone wants to be an activist. I understand the extreme pain people go through when they first learn about how some animals are treated.

“But when I saw the protests I thought ‘no’. The way to make people change is to support them.”

Mrs Carr said “you can’t tell people they must not eat meat”.

“You have to help people, you have to help the industry, you have to help businesses. It’s a process they have to go through themselves.”

She mentioned the closure of a Gippsland cafe over the weekend that owners say was forced to shut up shop because of constant harrassment.

The Gippy Goat Cafe wrote on Facebook that staff were subjected to “nearby four months of constant harassment, vile statements and threats from the abusive vegan activists”.

Mrs Carr said the result was not a win for animal activists.

“Wouldn’t it have been so much better to have supported that business to make changes?”

Victoria Police arrested 38 people this morning. Many had to be lifted by their arms and legs into the back of waiting police cars.

After each arrest, supporters cheered. Minutes after the protesters dispersed from their first location, a second protest had begun outside the Sea Life Aquarium nearby.

Protests also took place in Queensland and NSW today. Others are expected over the next few days in what organisers constitutes the “biggest animal rights direct action the world has ever seen”.

Continue the conversation: rohan.smith1@news.com.au | @ro_smith</s>MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia police arrested 38 animal rights activists on Monday after they blocked peak hour traffic in Melbourne in protests to mark the first anniversary of a film, Dominion, about factory farming.

The protests were part of a wave of action in three states, where activists targeted abbatoirs in the middle of the night to protest cruelty to animals.

The documentary Dominion, directed by Chris Delforce, used drones and undercover footage to film feedlots and saleyards to show how animals are treated in the production of meat, dairy, eggs and leather.

“The industry is telling people these animals are being killed ethically, that they are being killed humanely,” Delforce told Australian Associated Press. “It’s the furthest thing from humane.”

Protestors blocked a major Melbourne intersection for two hours, stopping trams bringing thousands of commuters into the city. Further down the road, activists blocked the entrance to Melbourne’s aquarium.

Police said they had not been told in advance about the protests.

“We respect the right for people to protest peacefully but we will not tolerate anti-social behaviour that disrupts the broader community,” Victoria police superintendent David Clayton said in a statement.

In Yangan in Queensland state, 18 activists chained themselves to fixtures inside an abattoir and eventually left after management agreed to release three sheep, Queensland police acting inspector Jamie Deacon told a media conference.

No charges have been laid against anyone, he said.</s>MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia police arrested 38 animal rights activists on Monday after they blocked peak hour traffic in Melbourne in protests to mark the first anniversary of a film, Dominion, about factory farming.

The protests were part of a wave of action in three states, where activists targeted abattoirs in the middle of the night to protest cruelty to animals.

The documentary Dominion, directed by Chris Delforce, used drones and undercover footage to film feedlots and saleyards to show how animals are treated in the production of meat, dairy, eggs and leather.

“The industry is telling people these animals are being killed ethically, that they are being killed humanely,” Delforce told Australian Associated Press. “It’s the furthest thing from humane.”

Protestors blocked a major Melbourne intersection for two hours, stopping trams bringing thousands of commuters into the city. Further down the road, activists blocked the entrance to Melbourne’s aquarium.

Police said they had not been told in advance about the protests.

“We respect the right for people to protest peacefully but we will not tolerate anti-social behavior that disrupts the broader community,” Victoria police superintendent David Clayton said in a statement.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, in campaign mode ahead of an election in May where farmers’ votes will be key, called the vegan protestors’ plans to storm farms and abattoirs shameful, and that the government would tighten laws to curb such action.

“I mean this is just another form of activism that I think runs against the national interest. The national interest is people being able to farm their own land,” Morrison said in an interview on 2GB radio.

In Yangan in Queensland state, 18 activists chained themselves to fixtures inside an abattoir early morning on Monday and eventually left after management agreed to release three sheep, Queensland police acting inspector Jamie Deacon told a media conference.

No charges have been laid against anyone, he said.</s>Vegan activists blocked the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets in the heart of Melbourne on Monday morning, hours after police had broken up a protest at a Queensland abattoir.

The Melbourne protesters chained themselves to vehicles, preventing trams and cars from getting through. Images on social media showed dozens of people lined up across the street.

There were also unconfirmed reports of protests at abattoirs at Laverton and Pakenham South.

Seven News reported that activists were also locked on to a truck at the entrance to Westside Meat in Bacchus Marsh.

In Queensland, about 20 animal rights campaigners descended on the Warwick abattoir and chained themselves to equipment before police were called to remove them on Monday.

Up to 200 others remained outside the the facility, protesting against what they said was the barbaric slaughter of sheep and pigs.

The protest was over by about 5.30am, about two hours after police were called to a break-in at the property.

Brad King, from the activist group Farm Animal Rescue, was among those at the protest and said animals slaughtered at the site had endured terrifying deaths.

“There are numerous occasions where they’re not stunned properly, but even when they are, the footage unequivocally demonstrates that it’s impossible to ‘humanely’ kill an animal who desperately doesn’t want to die,” he said in a statement.

On Sunday, the state agriculture minister, Mark Furner, said he’d had a “gutful” of activists putting farms at risk and said new regulations were being drafted to allow police and agriculture ministers to issue protesters with on-the-spot fines.

The Department of Agriculture will also form a taskforce with the state police intelligence unit to try and prevent animal activism attacks on farmers.

The National Farmers Federation CEO, Tony Mahar, said Australian farmers were “rightly apprehensive as to what Monday may bring” amid reports vegan activists may target poultry operations in either Windsor near Sydney or Mangrove Mountain on the NSW central coast.</s>Vegan protesters brought the central business district in Melbourne, Australia, to a halt for two and a half hours on Monday morning. In Queensland, activists broke into a slaughterhouse and negotiated the release of three sheep.

The protests were part of a coordinated action intended to promote veganism and bring attention to conditions at Australia's factory farms.

In Melbourne, "activists chained themselves to three Thrifty rental vans in the middle of the intersection, causing traffic chaos and affecting 11 tram lines. It also forced ambulances to take different routes to five major hospitals," The Sydney Morning Herald reports. Protesters also linked arms before the city's Sea Life aquarium.

Protesters held signs that said "You have been lied to," as well as the URL for the documentary Dominion, which aims to "expose the dark underbelly" of Australia's factory farms and slaughterhouses.

Police arrested 39 people in Melbourne, including a 15-year-old and two 17-year-olds. Police in the state of Victoria, where Melbourne is located, complained that protesters had not worked with police in advance and caused considerable disruption during rush hour.

"Police are able to facilitate planned protests when we are engaged with which doesn't put the community at risk," Victoria Police Superintendent David Clayton said in a statement. "This lack of engagement puts the entire community at risk with road closures and delays to transport services. We respect the right for people to protest peacefully but we will not tolerate anti-social behaviour that disrupts the broader community."

Slaughterhouses were the site of protests elsewhere in the country. Nine people were arrested for chaining themselves to machinery at an abattoir in New South Wales.

In Yangan, Queensland, protesters arranged a deal with the owners of a slaughterhouse: The activists would unchain themselves and leave if the owners would hand over three sheep (which will now live out their days on a farm), and agree not to file a complaint with police.

Australia is second only to the U.S. in the amount of meat consumed per capita.

Vegan Rising campaign director Kristin Leigh told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the Melbourne protest was one of nine that were planned across the country.

"We want people to go vegan, we want people to stop supporting animal abuse," Leigh told the broadcaster. "I don't believe any good person supports what's happening in slaughterhouses and so-called farms today, these are places of exploitation of innocent vulnerable beings. Animals are suffering in ways that most of us could never imagine. It's not about bigger cages, it's about animal liberation."

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison rebuked the protesters as "shameful and un-Australian" and asked for authorities to bring "the full force of the law... against these green-collared criminals," the BBC reports.

The country's attorney general, Christian Porter, called for two investigations: one into the protests, and another into an organization called Aussie Farms, which has posted an online map of Australia's factory farms and slaughterhouses. Porter also urged jurisdictions to consider increasing penalties for criminal trespass.

"There are strong grounds to conclude that Aussie Farms Inc is engaging in a systematic effort in collecting, using and disclosing personal information to the detriment of farmers and agricultural producers," the attorney general said, according to the Morning Herald.

The newspaper reports that the government reclassified Aussie Farms last week to make it subject to Australia's Privacy Act, under which organizations and individuals can be fined significant sums if they use personal information unlawfully.</s>Australians have reacted savagely to the protests. Picture: Twitter

Australians have reacted savagely to the protests. Picture: Twitter

As a mass wave of vegan protests hit around the country today, meat-loving Australians have reacted savagely to their demands social media.

Trolls on Twitter are posting pictures of bacon and steaks and threatening to eat a Big Mac for every minute they are delayed by the ongoing protests around Australia.

One commenter said he was planning to have a salad for lunch, but because of the protests this morning he decided to have a juicy beef burger, with extra bacon, instead.

Satirical news website, The Betoota Advocate, trolled animal activists, penning a piece titled: "Melbourne's Vegan Protests Lose Momentum As Activists Begin Napping Due To Iron Deficiencies".

"What started as a passionate and peaceful protest against the structurally discrimination faced by livestock at the hands of society that believes in the concept of an animal kingdom, has gradually started to fizzle out - as the animals rights protesters sporadically begin to have naps in the middle of the street," the comedy website wrote.

WHAT DO THE PROTESTORS WANT?

Despite a sarcastic response from many Australians, organiser and director of animal rights documentary, Dominion, Chris Delforce, said there's a very serious message behind today's protests.

"The industry is telling people these animals are being killed ethically, that they are being killed humanely - the reality is ... it's the furthest thing from humane," Mr Delforce told AAP.

He laughed off Prime Minister Scott Morrison's suggestion the protests occurring across the country were "un-Australian".

"I think most Australians are opposed to animal cruelty," he said.

However, it's clear from social media not everyone is in support of today's protests.

As part of the activism, Melbourne's busiest intersection has been blocked off by vegans conducting a "peaceful" peak-hour protest.

Hundreds of vegans from all over Victoria gathered at 5.30am outside Flinders Street Station, holding signs and blocking cars and trams from passing through.

Police have arrested nine people at an abattoir in the NSW Southern Tablelands.

Wearing T-shirts emblazoned with animal rights slogans, the group chained themselves to a conveyor at the premises at about 2.30am before refusing to leave, according to police.

Police have also broken up a protest at a Queensland abattoir.

About 20 animal rights campaigners descended on the Warwick abattoir and chained themselves to equipment before police were called to remove them.

It's all part of a national day of organised vegan activism that is being touted as the "biggest animal rights protest the world has ever seen".

And, despite the loud criticism and predictable posting of bacon and steak pictures on social media, some Twitter users said those inconvenienced by the protest need to get over themselves.

Protesters' list of demands for state and federal agriculture ministers to:
• Publicly acknowledge inherent cruelty in the process of killing animals for food, clothing and entertainment
• Insert a link to view documentary Dominion in a prominent position on their department's website
• Publicly commit to banning use of intentionally deceptive marketing labels and imagery on animal products
• Commit to screening Dominion in school curriculum for students aged 15 and over
• Add warning labels onto animals products advising of ethical, health and environmental issues associated with them
• End government subsidies for industries that use, exploit and abuse animals</s>Animal rights protesters are blocking a major Melbourne CBD intersection during the morning peak hour while at an outer suburb, they have chained themselves to a truck.

The city demonstration has blocked the busy Flinders Street and Swanston Street intersection and police are on site.

CBD protesters are holding signs that say: "This is a peaceful protest" and "SOS animal emergency climate emergency".

Vans draped in black and emblazoned with the web address of a vegan documentary, are parked in the middle of the intersection.

Protests have also been reported in other regions with vegan activists at Pakenham chaining themselves to a truck.

The CFA is supporting police to free them.

In the city, some trams have stopped running while others are being diverted. Commuters are being told to consider the city loop train as an alternative.

"It's causing quite the headache for people," Public Transport Victoria's Georgia Main told 3AW.

Victoria Police said it's monitoring the protest to ensure it is peaceful.

"It is understood protesters have blocked the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets using vehicles, which a small number have chained themselves to," they said in a statement.

"The safety of the community is our number one priority."

"Victoria Police respects people's right to protest peacefully but will not tolerate any anti-social behaviour or violence.

VicRoads has urged motorists to allow extra time for travel.

It comes after hundreds of animal rights activists rallied on Saturday, as part of a global protest, calling for an end to slaughterhouses outside Queen Victoria Market.</s>Melbourne: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the commonwealth is prepared to join a legal challenge if any landholder wants to launch legal action against animal rights activists protesting on their farms.

Campaigning in Brisbane on Monday, the prime minister blasted recent protests by activists he dubbed “green collared criminals” and declared “if there are pastoralists, farmers, graziers, that are in a position to bring a civil action against these groups looking to undermine their livelihood, the commonwealth is totally open to supporting them in a test case to show these green criminals [it is not on]”.

The comments follow protests around the country, including a demonstration in Melbourne on Monday morning involving more than 100 activists that brought a busy CBD intersection to a standstill.

In a series of protests across the country, nine people have been charged after chaining themselves to machinery at an abattoir run by Southern Meats in Goulburn, New South Wales in the early hours of Monday. Police were called to cut the protesters free.

The group consisted of three men, one 46 and two aged 22, and six women, aged between 21 and 61.

Another cohort of animal rights protesters say police tailed them to a Queensland abattoir where they broke in and chained themselves up before negotiating their way out with three sheep.

No one was arrested or charged after 19 activists invaded the Carey Bros Abattoir near Warwick before dawn on Monday.

However, the owner of the business, Greg Carey, indicated on Monday that he wanted the activists charged.

“They are trying to bring our primary agricultural industry to its knees using stand over tactics ... this is un-Australian and harms the livelihood of many,” he told the ABC.

The action was linked to a nationwide protest for animal rights which saw a cafe in Victoria close after what the owners said was “nearly four months of constant harassment”.

On Monday morning vegan activists blocked the intersection of Flinders and Swanston streets in the heart of Melbourne for several hours.

The Melbourne protesters chained themselves to vehicles about 7am, preventing trams and cars from getting through, and held up signs saying: “This is a peaceful protest” and “SOS animal emergency climate emergency”.

Vans draped in black and emblazoned with the web address of a vegan documentary parked in the middle of the intersection. Protesters had set up a television screen at the intersection which was playing the footage.

Police covered some protesters in blankets while they used angle grinders to cut the chains, before leading them away into custody. They later confirmed 38 people, including two 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old, were arrested.</s>Animal rights protesters who blocked a major Melbourne intersection could face up to five years in jail for obstructing police.

In a surprise rally staged during Monday's morning peak commute, more than 100 activists and three rental vans were used to block the jam-packed intersection outside Flinders Street Station.

Police on Tuesday confirmed 39 people arrested at the intersection and another at the nearby Melbourne Aquarium had been charged, including two 17-year-olds and a 15-year-old.

Obstructing police carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.</s>More than 45 animal rights activists were arrested on Monday as coordinated protests brought to a brief standstill amid calls for sweeping changes to Australia's industry.

Over 100 activists blocked a busy intersection in the city's central business district (CBD), reported.

Some were believed to have chained themselves to vehicles in the street, the police said, with 38 people, including three teenagers, arrested.

"We want to show we're regular people who have had enough, we are killing the planet and killing animals at rates that are just unacceptable," one of the organisers, Christine Lee, told Australia's Nine News.

Australia's beef industry is one of the country's most lucrative businesses, accounting for almost 2 per cent of the GDP, according to trade group and Livestock

Cattle farming is a significant contributor to rising on the planet, and consumption patterns across the globe have showed no sign of slowing down.

"Drastic times call for drastic measures so that is why we're here today," Lee said.

said the activists "caused considerable disruptions to thousands of people attempting to navigate through the CBD during peak hour".

Nine people were arrested in New South Wales' Southern Tablelands after chaining themselves to a conveyor in a slaughterhouse.

Another group of activists entered a slaughterhouse early Monday and tried to take three sheep. A said "the situation was resolved peacefully and without incident" and the sheep were later returned.
Nationwide protests against animal cruelty take place in Australia. In the city of Melbourne, protesters blocked a major intersection for four hours before it was dispatched by police; several people were arrested.