Fur Day of Action in Leamington

posted 1-11-05

On Saturday 29th October, campaigners across the globe took part in an International Day of Action against Fur. In Leamington, 12 campaigners met up to demo any shops found to be profitting from the misery & death of this evil trade. Before the protest began, 2 scouts went off to search for shops currently stocking any fur items, and sadly, several were soon found!

The first stop in our tour of Leamington`s dealers in death was Feminique on Warwick Street. Anti-fur posters lined the front of the shop and shoppers stopped to sign the petition and take leaflets. Dozens of shoppers across the street turned and looked when they heard shouts of `fur trade, death trade, boycott Feminique.` Immediately opposite was a shop called Revolve, who had also been found to stock real fur clothing. Some protesters took posters and leaflets onto that side of the street, so we were doing 2 shops at once!! After 45 minutes, it was time to move on to Buckle & Hyde in nearby Park Street. The manageress immediately emerged in a mood because we were outside `her` shop, but the demo continued for over half an hour until we were ready to move on.

Next stop was Shoon in Regent Court, where once again as soon as we arrived, the manageress stormed out moaning "You can`t protest here" and threatening us with the police! Obviously she didn`t realise that in a `democratic` society, we all have the right to protest against animal cruelty and injustice. When police did eventually turn up, they had no problem with our protest and we continued to shame Shoon to hundreds of shoppers. It soon became apparent that it was a special promotional day for Shoon, as assistants were handing out balloons in the street and we were then joined by a band that had been hired for the day! The band tried to drown out the anti-fur chanting but they could do nothing about our rabbit!

Much to the annoyance of the band and staff inside the store, the rabbit turned the band to our advantage by dancing to the music immediately infront of them! Many shoppers got the impression that the band was part of our demo, and were encouraged to take leaflets and talk to protesters!! Some members of the public even started dancing themselves! The Shoon protest lasted an hour, and then campaigners moved onto our final target. Revolve have a second store in Leamington, where once again, the manageress insisted we couldn`t protest, but we did and loads more leaflets were distributed to round off a great day.

For more details about the horrific fur trade, check out the Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade website here www.caft.org.uk

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