Anti Fur Week in London
The
Fur week of action from 9th to 14th October in London was a big success, with
over 70 people taking part over the 6 days.
| To see a short video clip click here 16 MB |
| To see another video clip click here 6 MB |
The focus of the week was Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, the only department store in the UK which still sells real fur, where there was a demo every day during the week. Fashion chain Joseph Ltd was also targeted, with protests at several of their branches on four days during the week.
Throughout the week, we gave out over 12,000 leaflets to shoppers and tourists, both leaflets about Harrods as well as general anti-fur literature, particularly important in Knightsbridge where there is generally more fur on view than anywhere else in London. We got a tremendous amount of support, with just a tiny minority of hecklers who have nothing better to do with their time!
Some
protesters made the demos more colourful with costumes, including a fox mask,
and one protester in a fur coat and skeleton mask.
We also used the megaphone throughout the week to send out a clear message to shoppers and tourists.
As well as the big Boycott Harrods banner, we also unfurled a second huge banner, with the No Fur symbol in eight different languages (respectively German, English, Dutch, French, Polish, Italian, Spanish and Turkish - with space for a couple of additions later). It certainly increased awareness at Harrods where at least half of the public is made up of foreign tourists.
Throughout the week there was an eye-catching and vibrant scene, and literally
hundreds of tourists who had come to see Harrods, stopped to take photos of
the fur protests; we were constantly being asked to pose for photos beside
the banners or in costumes.
The London Big Bus Company tourist buses passed by the protest every few minutes
along the A4 Brompton Rd, and the tourists got a fantastic view of the protest
each time it went by, often stopping for a few minutes in slow traffic. On
each occasion they crowded onto the side of the bus, with rows of cameras
clicking and flashes going off. Harrods is actually one of the places featured
on the Itinerary displayed on the side of the buses, but it is always the
protest they are interested in rather than the store. There must be hundreds,
probably thousands of tourists, who have taken photos and the anti-fur message
of the demos back with them to all corners of the world.
Harrods staff were on hand from time to time to hand out injunction papers
to new protesters, each one a thick bundle of legal documents which describes
in detail how to conduct a fur protest at Harrods, along with a coloured map
of the store to help us in case we got lost. Each one of these just adds to
Harrods' costs, so if you haven't been to Harrods yet, do come along and get
your free, illustrated "How to Protest" guide courtesy of Harrods.
On the Wednesday, we were joined by a man who had just resigned from his job
with Harrods and decided to help the protests. On each day, several members
of the public, of varying ages, read the literature and asked if they could
help with the protests there and then. This made the job of the injunction
servers more difficult as they had to serve injunction papers on each person
who stopped just to give out a few leaflets, which just made them dislike
Harrods even more.
All in all it was a very successful week, which marked the first anniversary
of the launch of the Harrods campaign, and the stepping up of the campaign
leading up to daily protests in the weeks leading up to the Christmas and
New Year Sales, when the shops make most of their annual profits.
To get involved in the campaign, contact london@caft.org.uk
Please write letters of protest to Harrods, see the information and addresses to contact below. Please also contact Joseph Ltd, click here for details.
Anti-Fur campaigners are preparing to step up protests at Harrods department store in London, as the Autumn/Winter season approaches. Harrods calls itself the "world's most famous department store" and its store in Knightsbridge is Europe's largest department store, occupying a 4.5 acre (18,000 square metre) site with over 1 million square feet (over 92,000 square metres) of selling space.
Harrods is also the last remaining department store in the UK which continues to sell real fur, despite the fact that fur farming has been made illegal in the UK. Last Autumn/Winter season, there was real fur on display throughout the store, and included items made from beaver, chinchilla, red fox, arctic fox, mink, musquash, rabbit, wolf, coyote and squirrel. Last year Harrods went into partnership with the head of British Fur Trade Association, launching a new British Fur Collection by Hockley's fur label, available only at Hockley's and Harrods.
In October last year, campaigners launched a campaign to persuade Harrods to stop selling fur, with regular protests outside the store and phone, email and letter writing calls. This followed on from recent campaigns against other department stores, Fenwicks, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and Liberty, all of whom have now stopped selling fur.
In December Harrods went to the High Court to seek an injunction which would have placed a 10 metre exclusion zone around the store, which would have forced the protests across the road, and a ban on the use of megaphones.
The three activists named in the injunction vigorously defended the case, and attended four High Court hearings over the next 6 months. Eventually an injunction was granted, but its terms were reasonable and in effect allowed the protests to carry on almost exactly as they had done before.
During the court case, the protests continued as before, with demos most Saturdays and some weekdays. In another desperate effort, Harrods employed two undercover agents to infiltrate the protests to try to gain evidence to use in the court hearing. However once again their tactics backfired as the agents' evidence showed the protesters to be in their words "calm and reasonable".
The injunction which is now in place, which also names CAFT as a defendant, allows 3 protesters within a 5 metre zone by each of Harrods 11 entrances, outside these areas however there is no limit on numbers at all. Bizzarely there is a painted red box by each entrance which depicts the protest zones, and which are regularly repainted.
The injunction also states that megaphones can only be used for periods of 15 minutes with 15 minute intervals between each use, which in practice is more than it was used anyway.
It is estimated that the legal action over the 6 months and four hearings cost Harrods over £150,000, whilst the activists were legally aided or defended themselves. Harrods were ordered to pay £500 towards the costs of one protester who defended himself.
The fact that Harrods is willing to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds to try to stop the protests shows just how effective the campaign has been and how afraid they are that their customers will discover the truth. Harrods has a very upmarket image, and the sight of regular protests is most unwelcome. Harrods is even considered a tourist attraction, many visitors to London include the store in their itinerary of places to visit, it is even mentioned on the side of the tourist buses, along with attractions such as Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.
More and more shoppers and tourists are getting the message every week, tens of thousands have signed the petition, hundreds of thousands of leaflets have been given out, and hundreds of potential customers have been turned away.
With winter approaching it's time to increase the pressure on Harrods to take the compassionate decision to stop selling real fur, in line with all the other department stores in the country, the vast majority of the British public and the democratic will of Parliament which has outlawed the production of fur in this country.
Protesters will be returning to Harrods on a regular basis throughout Autumn and Winter, If you are interested in getting involved in the protests, contact CAFT
Whether or not you can make the protests, please politely email, phone, fax, write to Harrods to request that it takes the compassionate decision to n stop the sale of all real animal fur and adopt a fur-free policy. Remember to point out that fur farming is illegal in the UK, so they should come into line with the wishes of the British public and the democratic will of Parliament.
If you get any replies please forward them to us.
Harrods Ltd 87-135 Brompton Road
Knightsbridge
London SW1X 7XL
Telephone 020 7730 1234
Fax 020 7581 0470
customer.services@harrods.com
Harrods Corporate Service
corporate.service@harrods
+44 (0)20 7225 5843
Other email addresses
Ladies.fashion@harrods.com
service@harrods-casino.com
direct.mail@harrods.com
