Objectors have failed to move on a confronting demonstration staged in Wollongong’s commercial heart, as the animal rights group Anonymous for the Voiceless launches an Illawarra chapter.
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Wearing V for Vendetta-style Guy Fawkes masks and holding flatscreen TVs, demonstrators formed an outward-facing “cube of truth” in Crown St Mall throughout Saturday, beaming from all angles a non-stop montage of stomach-turning scenes from Australian slaughterhouses.
There were blood-pocked piglets, gasping for breath or lifeless at their mother’s teat; sheep with their throats slit, painting the floor red; sows crammed into cages so small the bars dug into their flesh; animals beaten, kicked and tortured with prods and day-old male chicks –valueless in the meat and egg industries because of their gender – minced alive, in two seconds, into a creamy red paste.
Emily Duncan co-organiser of the newly-formed Anonymous for the Voiceless Illawarra, said the demonstration was aimed at encouraging a vegan lifestyle.
“We're more than aware that this is disturbing content but that's why it's important to show. The benefits of this cube outweigh anything else,” she said, adding four passers-by had told her they planned to adopt a vegan lifestyle after viewing the demonstration.
“People don’t know that by paying for meat and dairy and eggs, they’re supporting an industry that tortures, mutilates and murders innocent creatures. And people don’t realise that because it's pre-packaged and sold to us at Woolworths.”
Kain Shroff, a staffer at Wollongong Central’s pop-up chocolate shop Fardoulis, is among those who complained to Wollongong Central security staff. “I don’t eat meat ... I just think that they shouldn’t be doing this in a family environment,” he said.
“Since they’ve been here, no one’s coming through. It’s affecting [trade at] YD, Pandora, Telstra. We normally get a huge amount of foot traffic. We’ve had customers make comments about the images. My boss said we’d talk to the centre, but obviously the centre can’t do anything about it.”
Antony Keenan, The GPT Group regional general manager, said the demonstration had gone ahead with police approval, on council-owned land. “We understand it was approved by the police and we escalated to the police once we saw it arrive. The police allowed the protest to continue,” he said.
“We understand that they’re making a point, but they probably could have been more considerate of the location, with the graphic nature of the content.”