Edinburgh’s Waitrose Animal Rebellion protesters pour milk into the workshop to call for a plant-based future

Animal Rebellion campaigners targeted Waitrose in Morningside on Saturday October 15, taking milk from shelves and dumping it. As she emptied a bottle of semi-skimmed, one protester said the dairy industry was ‘responsible for more greenhouse gas emissions than the oil giants’.

She said: “The four main dairy companies are responsible for the majority of methane emissions. The milk is not suitable for human consumption. When baby calves are taken from their mothers, when mothers are forcibly impregnated…”

When a member of staff tried to intervene, the woman said it was a non-violent protest. A second protester said: “We have tried other democratic means, they don’t work.”

Video of the incident was posted on Twitter where it has over six million views. Reacting to the stunt, Edinburgh Labor councilor Scott Arthur wrote: ‘There is serious debate to be had about the environmental impact of the food we eat, but that’s not it. Kudos to the staff who were left to clean up this mess.

It’s part of Animal Rebellion’s coordinated action across the UK, targeting stores including Waitrose, Whole Foods and Marks and Spencer in London, Manchester, Norwich and Edinburgh around midday on Saturday.

Footage shows several protesters pouring milk, taken from the shelves, onto display cases in the Harrods food hall in Knightsbridge. Another group was filmed emptying milk bottles onto the floor and onto a table laden with cheeses at Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly.

Animal Rebellion said it called for a plant-based future and highlighted the need to help farmers transition to a sustainable plant-based food system.

Lou Hadden, a charity worker from Herefordshire who joined the action at Fortnum and Mason, said: “This is not how I imagined spending my weekend. Unfortunately this disruption is necessary for people in power are listening to academics from Oxford, Harvard and the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).

“The world’s top climate and land scientists are calling for the transition to a plant-based food system. We need bold, decisive policy right now, not the horror show we’re seeing right now.”

Skylar Sharples, an international development graduate from Bristol and one of the protesters at Harrods, said: “The Animal Rebellion supporters are back because Liz Truss and Ranil Jayawardena [Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] again decide to ignore the calls to start building a better future.

“A plant-based future would see a beautiful world for all of us, thriving with nature and life. The steps to properly support farmers in this transition must start now.”

Additional reports by AP.