Animal rights activist attacked outside Palm Springs restaurant
Foie Gras is back on menus across California after a statewide ban was lifted in January. However, the French delicacy is still causing controversy. Over the weekend, a protest outside a Palm Springs restaurant turned violent.
Nicholas Shaw-Mcminn helped organize a protest outside Le Vallauris Restaurant in Palm Springs Saturday afternoon. He organizes peaceful protests all the time. But, when a man who may have worked at the restaurant attacked him it was a first.
“I was filming a speaker who was speaking out for the animals and this man approached me from behind and I was alerted by someone else in the group so I started to turn so he had swung at me with a solid wooden pole of some sort and it struck my face as I turned,” explained Shaw-Mcminn or Direct Action Everywhere.
The Palm Springs Police Department says it responded to the scene, but no one filed charges.
“This issue is really about the animals and we want to keep the attention on the animals and not make it just about me,” said Shaw-Mcminn.
Still, the animal activist says the pain he went through is something some animals go through every day. State lawmakers banned Foie Gras two years ago to stop farmers from using tubes to feed ducks and geese, and restaurants from selling it. But, now the dish is back on menus across California. It’s something animal activists like those with Direct Action Everywhere want to change.
“If anything it just gets me more motivated to realize you know there are violent people out there in this world that are causing horrible harm to animals and someone needs to be there to try to end this violence and this cycle of hell for these animals,” concluded Shaw-Mcminn.
Le Vallauris Restaurant declined to comment on the incident.
