Police called to turf out vegans from Waitrose after they storm inside in protest at Christmas turkeys

Police were called to a Waitrose supermarket after hardline vegans tried to stop customers buying Christmas turkeys.

Eighteen campaigners formed a blockade in the meat aisle of the shop in Brighton, before officers were called to remove them.

Grim-faced activists, holding signs with messages including “it’s not food it’s violence” and “humane murder is a lie”, were protesting against the festive “carnage” which sees millions of turkeys slaughtered across the country.

It was organised by the Brighton branch of the “Direct Action Everywhere” group, and follows a similar protest in the same city last month in which a steakhouse was invaded as diners ate.

Police confirmed they were called to Waitrose in Western Road where they found 18 protesters, none of which were arrested.

Officers removed protesters from the store 20 minutes after it began.

A live broadcast of the latest protest, on Sunday afternoon, was published on the group’s Facebook page and showed a protester saying: "This Christmas time, you might be worried about what presents to buy, how to organise family get-togethers.

“The animals are facing carnage. Around 10 million turkeys are slaughtered this time of year, so that they can end up on your Christmas tables in the UK.

“They are loaded into trucks next to their friends, not knowing where they are heading. There’s no chance of escape.

“Turkeys are normally slaughtered between nine and 21 weeks old. They are just babies. Their natural lifespan is around 10 years.”

Speaking to the Standard, protest organiser Matthew McKeefry added: "During the holiday season we’re exposing the brutal reality of the UK turkey industry, at least 10 million individual turkeys are killed for the holiday season alone, each of these turkeys is an individual who wants to be with their families just like we do.

"We’re talking about peace and kindness but there’s something that’s going on that we need to expose, and that’s the violence included in animal agriculture. Waitrose say they have a high standard of welfare, but the turkeys they don’t want to die.

"We want people to remember every animal and recognise everyone’s individuality, we are speaking up for turkeys.

"People who weren’t thinking about animal rights before will be thinking about it now. It’s such an urgent issue, every day animals are suffering inside of farms and people are ignoring it, we want to bring this issue to the front of people’s mind."

Mr McKeefry also said there would be further protests in the run-up to Christmas, including one being planned in London.

A spokesman for Sussex Police said: "At 2.45pm on Sunday police were called to the Waitrose store in Western Road, Brighton, where 18 people demonstrating against the consumption of meat products were present.

"After commencing their action inside the store, the group moved outside. There were no arrests."