Animal rights mob barricade four McDonald’s distribution centres

Animal rights protesters are blockading four UK distribution centres for McDonald’s which they say will impact roughly 1,300 restaurants.

Animal Rebellion said they are using trucks and bamboo structures at the distribution sites in Hemel Hempstead, Basingstoke, Coventry and Heywood, Greater Manchester, to stop lorries from leaving depots.

The group is demanding that McDonald’s commit to becoming fully plant-based by 2025.

Animal Rebellion said they intend to remain at the sites for at least 24 hours, causing ‘significant disruption’ to the McDonald’s supply chain.

Animal rights protesters are blockading four UK distribution centres for McDonald’s which they say will impact roughly 1,300 restaurants. Pictured: The Manchester site

Animal Rebellion said they are using trucks and bamboo structures at the distribution sites in Hemel Hempstead, Basingstoke, Coventry and Heywood, Greater Manchester, to stop lorries from leaving depots

The group is demanding that McDonald’s commit to becoming fully plant-based by 2025. Pictured: A protester at one of the sites today

Animal Rebellion said they intend to remain at the sites for at least 24 hours, causing ‘significant disruption’ to the McDonald’s supply chain

James Ozden, a spokesman for the group, said the action is aimed at calling out the animal agriculture industry for their part in the global climate crisis.

He said: ‘The meat and dairy industry is destroying our planet: causing huge amounts of rainforest deforestation, emitting immense quantities of greenhouse gases and killing billions of animals each year.

‘The only sustainable and realistic way to feed ten billion people is with a plant-based food system. Organic, free-range and ‘sustainable’ animal-based options simply aren’t good enough.’

James Ozden, a spokesman for the group, said the action is aimed at calling out the animal agriculture industry for their part in the global climate crisis

He said: ‘The meat and dairy industry is destroying our planet: causing huge amounts of rainforest deforestation, emitting immense quantities of greenhouse gases and killing billions of animals each year’

He continued: ‘The only sustainable and realistic way to feed ten billion people is with a plant-based food system. Organic, free-range and ‘sustainable’ animal-based options simply aren’t good enough’

The group added in a statement: ‘We’re shutting down McDonald’s distribution to all of its 1300 UK restaurants today because of their responsibility for the climate emergency, the cutting down of the Amazon rainforest to make way for grazing cattle, and their continued refusal to take action and shift to a plant-based menu.

‘Our activists are locked into concrete tubes and secured on bamboo constructions, and it’s wet and cold, but we’re here until McDonald’s release a statement or meet with us to discuss how they can play a fairer role in our collective future.

‘For decades all they’ve been interested in is profit, with some of the unhealthiest foods you can eat. Climate change, deforestation, and animal agriculture are the greatest threats to this planet – not to mention the obesity crisis fed by fast food. There’s no McFish on a dead planet. We need to act now.’

McDonald’s has been contacted for comment.

The group added in a statement: ‘We’re shutting down McDonald’s distribution to all of its 1300 UK restaurants today because of their responsibility for the climate emergency, the cutting down of the Amazon rainforest to make way for grazing cattle, and their continued refusal to take action and shift to a plant-based menu’

It added: ‘For decades all they’ve been interested in is profit, with some of the unhealthiest foods you can eat. Climate change, deforestation, and animal agriculture are the greatest threats to this planet – not to mention the obesity crisis fed by fast food. There’s no McFish on a dead planet. We need to act now’