On 21st May 2023, nine vegan activists staged a sit-in protest at The Cow & Sow in Queen Square, Bristol, West of England, a well-known steakhouse. Following a recently common new method of animal rights protesting, the activists occupied tables reserved for customers and held placards from the animal rights group Animal Rising showing conditions inside UK farms. Other similar high-end restaurant sit-ins happened the same weekend across the UK, including Glasgow, Lancaster, Southampton, Birmingham, and London.
On Friday 19th May, 30 activists from Animal Rising sat down alongside the 1,000 calves penned in at a farm in Dorset as part of a protest action, and one of the placards held by the group at the restaurant showed an image taken from that protest.
Daniel Juniper, one of the activists, said to Bristol Live: “We are supporting the Animal Rising activists who yesterday occupied Grange Dairy Farm in Dorset, where they found nearly 1,000 calves who had been separated from their mothers, some only weeks old. No animal deserves to be torn away from their mother and no animal deserves to be turned into a sensory pleasure for other animals. So we are today disrupting The Cow & Sow in Bristol — a steakhouse with an extensive selection of meat. In a time where the public opinion is changing about how we view animals, this type of restaurant is outdated and destructive. So I and eight other supporters of Animal Rising are here to disrupt their Saturday night service. To sound the alarm and call for change. There is an alternative and it is kinder and loving.”
Animal Rising, which recently rebranded itself as used to be called Animal Rebellion, has been increasing their campaigning activity throughout the country. For instance, earlier in the month, five of its members were charged by South Yorkshire Police with intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance at Doncaster racecourse, just a few days after others did the same at the Grand National where 118 activists were arrested. On 14th February, St. Valentine’s Day, six Animal Rising activists were arrested during a protest at Westminster Bridge in London.
