Extinction Rebellion invades McDonalds in Brussels pedestrian zone (Brussels)

It is the third day in a row that XR is carrying out civil disobedience actions in Belgium to denounce the number of factory farms. They point out that meat consumption needs to fall drastically in order to achieve the climate goals. Today they are targeting the fast food giant, one of the main destinations for meat from intensive livestock farms.

Several XR activists broke into McDonalds on Sunday afternoon, while others eat their own vegan lunch on the terrace of the fast food branch. A third group of activists stage an ecocide, a crime that destroys the environment, on the Beursplein.

With this final action, XR wants to emphasize that intensive livestock farming threatens our health. “Factory farms are the source of many pandemics, such as bird flu and mad cow disease. In addition, the increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics in the meat we eat threatens to cause ten million deaths per year by 2050.

The police of the Brussels-Capital Ixelles zone tolerated the action and allowed the demonstrators to go on for several hours. When they no longer wanted to keep the entrance to the McDonalds on the pedestrian zone free for customers, they intervened. “After repeatedly asking to do so and because consultation was not possible, 30 activists were arrested,” reports Ilse Van dekeere, spokeswoman for the Brussels police.