Animal rights group claims ‘mass arrests’ at fish market demonstration

Animal rights protesters claim there have been “mass arrests” at their demonstration at a London fish market.

Video footage showed dozens of demonstrators standing outside Billingsgate Fish Market in Poplar in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Animal Rebellion, which aims to “end the animal agriculture industry”, has said it is behind the protest.

In a series of Twitter posts, the group said it had stopped traffic entering the fish market, and that one protester had been locked onto an entrance gate.

A photo posted by the group also shows a woman being carried away by three police offices and is accompanied by the caption “Mass Arrests at Billingsgate”.

London Metropolitan Police was unable to confirm whether there had been any arrests.

In a tweet about its “vigil” at the fish market, Animal Rebellion said: “So many here, here for the fishes, for the thousands in the market, dead or dying, for the trillions killed this year #friendsnotfood.”

Animal Rebellion describes itself as a “mass volunteer movement” demanding that the Government end the “destructive animal farming and fishing industries”.

According to the group’s website, it wants the Government to lead a “transition to a just, sustainable plant-based food system”.

The group said it stands in “solidarity” with the climate change group Extinction Rebellion.