For the past several months, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty sent out press releases and posts on e-mail lists calling for a massive demonstration at a Huntingdon Life Sciences facility in New Jersey. The protest was supposed to mark the 50th anniversary of HLS’s operations (SHAC couldn’t even get that right — this is actually the company’s 51st year in business).
But like SHAC’s campaign against HLS in the United States, the protest fizzled with only 200-300 activists showing up to join Kevin Jonas and company in protesting SHAC.
Robin Webb, a British spokesperson for the Animal Liberation Front, was the only person arrested. He was charged with trespassing after violating a court order that allows only 50 people to mass in front of HLS’ front gate at any given moment. But not before Webb voiced his opinion of HLS researchers, shouting that, “They’re evil! They don’t belong on this planet.”
Kevin Jonas tried to spin the poor turnout by decrying the large number of police on-hand — 65 of local police plus county and state cops. Jonas told The Star-Ledger (New Jersey),
Overkill is an understatement. We’ve got grannies here from different parts of the country. They’ve got guns.
What Jonas didn’t have was much of a turnout.
Sources:
No violence as animal activists mark an ‘unhappy’ 50th birthday. Jeff Diamant, The Star-Ledger (New Jersey), Monday, December 02, 2002.
Animal rights group holds Doylestown protest. Hilary Bentman, Philadelphia Intelligencer, December 3, 2002.
Hundreds protest lab testing on animals. News12, December 1, 2002.
Animal-testing rally held outside labs. Jeff Linkous, Associated Press, December 2, 2002.