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World Vegan Day 2014: 'Naked' Peta protesters lie covered in 'blood' at Trafalgar Square

Protesters held signs reading: 'choose life - choose vegan'

Heather Saul
Saturday 01 November 2014 16:21 GMT
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Supporters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) gather to lie in a heap in Trafalgar Square to raise awareness on World Vegan Day
Supporters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) gather to lie in a heap in Trafalgar Square to raise awareness on World Vegan Day (PA)

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Dozens of partially nude Peta protesters lay covered in fake blood at London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday to mark World Vegan Day 2014.

About 100 supporters lay in heaps holding signs that read “choose life: choose vegan” and “one billion animals killed for flesh each year”.

The animal rights group were also handing out vegan starter kits to passerbys.

Peta Director Mimi Bekhechi said the organisation is challenging others to take-up a vegan diet. “Animals feel pain, fear, love and joy, just as humans do, yet billions of them are killed every year for products that are poisoning the environment and contributing to the UK's obesity epidemic," she said.

“PETA is challenging people to think about the massive toll that the meat industry takes on animals, the Earth and human health – and to go vegan.”

World Vegan day was established by Louise Wallis, the former chair of The Vegan Society UK, in 1994 and is celebrated across the world.

It commemorates the start of World Vegan Month and the coining of the term 'vegan'.

Vegans and vegetarians now make up 12 per cent of the UK population, and that number is said to rise to 20 per cent for 18- to 24-year-olds.

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