Nine people arrested after allegedly chaining themselves to Goulburn abattoir
Three men and six women have been arrested after allegedly chaining themselves to an abattoir in Goulburn and refusing to leave. It comes as supporters of activist group Aussie Farms protest across the country.
Nine vegan activists will face court after chaining themselves to a conveyor inside a Goulburn abattoir on Monday, as part of a nationwide animal rights protest organised by the group Aussie Farms.
Police say a finance worker was among those charged for illegally entering the Southern Meats property at about 2.30am.
Three men and six women — ranging in age from 22 to 61 — were all charged with entering enclosed lands, interfering with conduct of business and hindering police before being granted bail on Monday.
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The Daily Telegraph has been told police used angle grinders to remove the group after they covered their arms with pipes so the chains could not be cut easily.
As part of the nationwide protests, 38 other activists were arrested in Melbourne after blocking an intersection which caused chaos for commuters during the morning peak hour.
Another 20 people stormed an abattoir in Queensland.
In the Sydney CBD about 50 protesters took to the streets but the only police action was to charge one of them with jaywalking and booking another for tyre defects.
The protesters marched out of Hyde Park before splitting up and walking through the city, telling people they were “pre vegan” and asking them to watch an online documentary on agriculture in Australia which was filmed and produced by their leader, Chris Delforce, the head of Aussie Farms.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison blasted the activists for their disruption.
He said if farmers were “in a position to actually bring a civil action against these groups, these green collar criminals who are looking to undermine their livelihood and the economy of the Australian people, then the Commonwealth is totally open to supporting them in a test case, to show these green collar criminals that you don’t get to go and pull the rug from under our Aussie farmers”.
Sydney protester Andy Faulkner, who said he made a living working with schools as a DJ, told the Telegraph: “I was a primary school teacher, I now work in schools, we’ve got kindergarten teachers, people from all walks of life, everyday people who were paying for animals to be tortured to death three times a day only recently.”
One group stormed the UTS campus in Ultimo, telling meat eaters they were “pre vegan” and asking people to watch the Joaquin Phoenix-narrated Dominion documentary online.
Deputy premier John Barilaro said the activists who stormed farms should be treated as terrorists and pledged to change the laws to “see these thugs spend time behind bars thinking about their actions".
“They are terrorising farmers and their families. It's bloody disgusting,” the state Nationals leader said.
"If they enter (the farms) they should feel the full brunt of the law”.
“They have no right. and if they keep this up they should lose their rights and spend some time behind bars.”
The maximum penalty for trespass is currently $5500.
Federal agriculture minister David Littleproud announced the charity Aussie Farms had been made subject to the Privacy Act as from Saturday April 6 after publishing an interactive map listing personal information about farmers with the maximum penalty for misusing personal information being $420,000.
The charity, run out of a Ryde apartment, had been exempt from the act with an income of less than $3 million a year.
Sixth-generation Wingham farmer Greg Newell, whose property was named on the map, said the protesters had probably never been on a farm or met a farmer.
“If they want to protest and sit outside a farm gate, that’s one thing but if they want to trespass on a farmer’s property, that’s another thing,” Mr Newell, 57, whose farm featured on the map, said.
“That’s terrorism.
“I doubt few of them have been on a farm and spoken to a farmer.”
He said his farm, famous for its paddock-to-plate menu and Hereford cattle, was run ethically and organically.
“Our animals are low stress, happy, grass-fed, no grain, just as Mother Nature meant them to be,” Mr Newell said.
“We can tell you about any animal you are eating, about its mother and grandmother and what bullock it came from.
“They (vegans) are eating kale, do they know where it came from? What about their vegan products? Do they know where they come from?”.
The Aussie Farms Facebook page said the protests in NSW, Queensland and Victoria would show “people around the world … that our work for animal rights is no longer a minority grassroots movement but instead a rapidly growing phenomenon that can’t be stopped.”
Protesters were told not to be overemotional or reference the “holocaust or slavery”.
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