Five supporters of Animal Rising stand trial for “conspiracy to commit criminal damage” following Animal Rising’s “Stop the Supply” Dairy Campaign September 2022, in which the Arla Foods’ Hatfield site was shut down by protestors [1].
The defendants pleaded not guilty at St. Albans Crown Court on Monday 29/04/24 and the trial is expected to last 2-3 weeks.
The trial comes shortly after the “belief in consent” defence was removed in UK courts for criminal damage protest cases [2].
Defend Our Juries are present at court aligning with Animal Rising’s concerns that the right to protest and juries’ right to apply their conscience are under threat
Twenty supporters of Animal Rising (then known as Animal Rebellion) stopped the supply of milk from the Arla base at Hatfield, Hertfordshire on 8th September 2022, protesting the environmental impact of dairy farming, and raising awareness of animal suffering.
Rose Patterson, Animal Rising spokesperson, said:
“This trial is not only about the environmental harm caused by animal agriculture and the unjust suffering of farmed animals; it comes at a pivotal time for democracy in the UK. The protestors who risked their freedom to raise awareness of the horrors of the dairy industry deserve to be tried by a jury that has the freedom to apply their conscience.
“We are in a climate emergency, and animal agriculture is the leading contributor to climate change and Britain’s depleted biodiversity. A move to a sustainable plant-based food system would improve food security in the UK, reducing our environmental impact by up to 75 percent, and stop this needless suffering to animals in the dairy system.”
Animal Rising is a social movement to create a new relationship with all beings and give us a chance for a safe ecological future. The group primarily calls for the transition to a secure and sustainable plant-based food system, alongside a mass rewilding programme.
A 2023 study released by Oxford University showed that a plant-based diet has a significantly lower impact in all areas analysed including emissions, land-use, water-use and biodiversity loss, compared to a diet high in animal products [3]. Animal Rising calls for a rapid shift to a safe, secure, and climate-resilient plant-based food system that works for farmers and allows for rewilding of the freed-up land and a draw-down of huge amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
ENDS
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Notes to the Editor:
[1] https://www.animalrising.org/post/liz-truss-pressured-supporters-of-animal-rebellion-shut-down-2-dairy-distribution-centres
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/19/ruling-erodes-climate-activists-right-protest-england-wales
[3] https://www.medsci.ox.ac.uk/news/vegan-diet-has-just-30-of-the-environmental-impact-of-a-high-meat-diet-major-study-finds