Vegan protesters voicing their opposition to abattoirs have been charged, after blocking traffic on Monday morning at a major intersection in Melbourne.
Vegan protesters brought the central business district in Melbourne, Australia, to a halt for two and a half hours on Monday morning.
The protest was part of a global movement calling for an end to slaughterhouses, and comes after hundreds of animal rights activists rallied on Saturday outside Queen Victoria Market, also 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 reported.
The protesters held signs emblazoned with slogans such as “This is a peaceful protest” and “SOS animal emergency climate”, and some chained themselves to vans parked on tram tracks at the Australian city’s busy intersection.
Vegan activists cause peak hour chaos, disrupting 11 tram lineshttps://t.co/NM3eC7qFee pic.twitter.com/I9H44jM0Rk
— ABC Melbourne (@abcmelbourne) April 7, 2019
The 39 protesters – who have now been charged – could face imprisonment, police say, for obstructing the roads at the Flinders St and Swanston St intersection.
Protesters also linked arms before the city’s Sea Life aquarium.
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.
Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has called animal rights activists “un-Australian green criminals” following the various protests, including the vegan protesters in Melbourne.