Florida Chick-Fil-A Invaded By Animal Rights Activists

PINELLAS PARK, FL — As Chick-fil-A fans across the country cashed in on the chain’s Cow Appreciation Day freebies Tuesday, a group of animal rights activists in Pinellas Park seized the opportunity to take a stand. Wearing blood-covered animal costumes and brandishing butcher knives, the activists staged their protest in the middle of the restaurant.

YouTube video shot by a customer at the 34th Street Chick-fil-A shows protesters on the restaurant’s floor as people with knives stood over them. Irritated customers walked over the prone bodies as parents complained the display frightened their children.

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Some protesters held up signs, disrupting the restaurant’s customers. One customer is clearly heard on the video telling a protester to “shut up.”

Tina Leacock, the woman who shot the video posted to YouTube, told WFLA the protesters “took it too far.”

The demonstrators were from Direct Action Everywhere Pinellas. The group is against the consumption of any animal product, the station reported. The group’s spokeswoman Kayla Leaming told the station that it was important to put it “out on the table” to show people “where the animals are coming from and how bad the animals are suffering.”

The protest was staged during Chick-fil-A’s annual food giveaway during which people who dress like cows get freebies. People inside the restaurant initially mistook the protesters for people hoping to cash in on the promotion.

Pinellas Park Police were called to the scene, but protesters had left by the time they arrived, several media outlets reported.

Another animal rights protest also created an uproar in St. Petersburg on Tuesday when activists showed up to Crescent Lake Park and grabbed a man’s fish and threw them back. Members of the group repeatedly chanted “It’s not food, it’s violence.”

The man who was accosted has been identified as Bob Hope. He posted a video of the incident on Facebook.

Hope also called 911. The protesters were leaving as St. Petersburg Police were arriving.

No arrests have been announced in either incident.

Check out the video of the Chick-fil-A incident below:

Hope’s video of the incident at Crescent Lake Park is below:

Screenshot via YouTube