Monday, February 20, 2006

Day of Protest against the Chinese Fur Trade

On Monday, February 20 approximately 35 activists gathered at the headquarters offices of the prestigious Asia Society Center on Park Avenue. This demonstration was postponed from a previous date and was part of an international day of action against China's fur trade. 85% of the world's fur comes from China, which is known to use dog and cat fur, to transport and handle animals with extreme cruelty and which has been proven to skin animals alive.

In addition to the protest, a literature and education table was manned with a continuous screening of undercover video footage of the egregious and horrific cruelty of the Chinese fur trade. One activist handed out literature to anyone passing by. We had an opportunity to speak to one of the administrative managers of the Asia Society who expressed and interest in our campaign. The suggestion was made that we be invited to make a presentation and screen our footage for a gathering at the Asia Society. The manager agreed to consider this possibility. A very positive step.

Activists requested letters and phone calls to both the Washington DC Embassy and the NYC Consulate Office of the People's Republic of China. Additionally, a boycott of all Chinese travel and products including the 2008 Beijing Olympics was called for. This action was in cooperation with the newly created International Anti-Fur Coalition. http://fur.arforum.org

Despite the freezing cold temperatures, about 20 activists took a short walk down to the Dennis Basso's fur salon, which was having a huge Presidents Day sale. Regardless of the big sale sign in the window there were no customers inside the store. A loud, aggressive protest followed. It was interesting to note that the demeanor of the NYPD officers that followed us from one location to the next, changed drastically when we arrived at Basso's.

At the Asia Society officers were fair, cooperative and some even openly sympathetic after viewing the video images of animals being skinned alive. At Basso's, a ranking officer was dispatched to the scene from the same precinct and the dynamics changed dramatically. Police were rude, argumentative and once again insisted that no one could stand in front of Basso's storefront.

Arrests were threatened several times. As far as we know, Basso is the only store in the city where protesters are prohibited from standing directly in front of his store. We were once again placed in front of the abandoned Jean Paul Gaultier and empty Fendi stores. Both fur scumbags Gaultier and Fendi have closed since we began our Basso demonstrations.

Our last stop was at the home of Vertical Group executive Peter Rosten who lives in a high rise apartment on 38 th St. and First Avenue. The howling, whipping winds didn't prevent us from unfurling our large colorful banner and holding up our large graphic photos of mutilated animals as we marched directly up to the revolving doors at the front of Rosten's building.

There was heavy foot traffic at the busy front door and flyers were distributed to Peter's neighbors as they entered or left the building. Building doormen and security frantically called 9-1-1, but could not stop the loud demonstration that followed. Neighbors were horrified to hear that Peter's company Vertical makes a market for puppy killers like the ones at LSRI (aka HLS). We'll be back, Peter Rosten. You can count on that.