Activists hit London shops of top fieldsports retailers Farlows and William Evans

Two of the country’s leading fieldsports retailers have come under attack from vegan activists.

Farlows and William Evans were targeted by activists from Animal Rebellion, an offshoot of climate activist group Extinction Rebellion. The group describes itself as a “mass movement using non-violent civil disobedience to call for a just and sustainable plant-based food system”. (Read more on Extinction Rebellion here.)

Hundreds of activists blocked roads and pavements in central London as part of a protest intended to paralyse the city centre. At high-end fishing and shooting shop Farlows on Pall Mall, members of the mob poured red paint on floors and stairs before being removed by police. Activists then took up positions blocking the entrance to the store. Meanwhile, at shooting supplies shop William Evans on St James’s Street, protestors daubed windows with green paint. A spokesman for the group said: “These actions are representative of the need for change in the cruel and environmentally destructive systems that exploit and kill trillions of non-human animals every year. We cannot allow this to keep going unchallenged.”

The attacks are part of a wave of action by vegan activists that has hit prestigious shops in the city. Two days before the attacks on Farlows and William Evans, members of the same
group poured milk on the floor of Fortnum & Mason.

This act of vandalism prompted Welsh hill farmer and TV personality Gareth Wyn Jones to hit out at what he called “foolish middle-class environmentalists in their Gucci shoes and Prada bags” for “trying to take away other people’s liberties”.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “A group of nine people were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage after three retail premises in central London were damaged by paint. Two people were also arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage in Piccadilly on Friday, 7 October.” Two people had been charged at time of press.