Animal rights activists opposed to ‘factory farms’ protest outside Gavin Newsom’s home
A group of animal rights activists on Wednesday locked themselves together outside the front gates of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s home in Fair Oaks as part of a protest aimed at stopping the expansion of what they call “factory farms.”
A few dozen demonstrators from the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere gathered outside Newsom’s home. Others drove a truck hauling a trailer filled with burnt wood debris collected at a California wildfire site. The demonstrators lifted the trailer and dumped the wildfire debris on the street outside the home’s front gates, according to a news release from the group.
The debris was later removed, but police had a harder time with several demonstrators who locked themselves to each other with makeshift devices known as “sleeping dragons” and were seated outside the gate. The devices made of steel pipe, handcuffs and chains make it difficult for police to use bolt cutters to sever the handcuffs.
As California Highway Patrol officers worked to free the demonstrators from the makeshift handcuffs, the rest of the demonstrators stood about a block away chanting “No More Factory Farms” and holding up protest placards. A line of about a dozen CHP officers stood in front of the protesters, blocking access to the road that leads to the front gate.
“We’re here outside Gov. Newsom’s house today to demand that he enact a moratorium on the expansion of factory farms and slaughterhouses,” said Samantha Eachus, a spokeswoman for the animal rights group. “They are literally chained together in front of his house, demanding his attention to this issue.”
In a written response from Newsom’s press office, a spokesperson said, “A group gathered at the family’s residence this morning. Please contact CHP for more information.”
Firefighters from the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District were at the scene. By noon Wednesday, authorities were still using what appeared to be a power saw to cut the makeshift handcuffs off the protesters. A few dozen protesters remained down the street, chanting messages on a bullhorn in the direction of the detained protesters
Officer John Ortega, a CHP spokesman, said nine people arrived outside the governor’s home at about 8:30 a.m. to stage a protest in the driveway without a permit.
“The group blocked the driveway and locked themselves together using metal devices and chains,” Ortega said in an email to The Sacramento Bee. “The CHP met with the group blocking the driveway and ultimately issued several dispersal orders advising them to leave voluntarily or face arrest.”
He said all nine demonstrators refused to leave and were arrested without incident on suspicion of unlawful assembly, failing to disperse after a warning, and trespassing and failing to leave.
“Those arrested offered no physical resistance,” Ortega said. “Approximately 60 other individuals protested in the neighborhood but did not cause a disruption. No injuries have been reported.”
The protest outside the governor’s home was part of a campaign that included a demonstration Tuesday outside a Foster Farms facility in Merced County.
The activists used a U-Haul truck to block the main entrance of the Foster Farms plant in Livingston, Some activists chained themselves together on top of the truck as others lined up on the ground, the Merced Sun-Star reported.
According to the group’s Facebook page, former Baywatch actress Alexandra Paul and another activist pulled two chickens from cages on one of the trucks entering the plant. Direct Action Now says 11 activists were arrested in the Merced County demonstration.
“We went to Foster Farms yesterday to expose the cruelty that we have documented there and to bring into reality what the expansion of factory farms and slaughterhouses truly means to California,” Eachus told The Bee. “We believe that this industry should be fined and sanctioned millions of dollars as opposed to (receiving) government handouts.”
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 2:35 PM.
