Tash Peterson: Australia’s most notorious vegan shocks shoppers in bloodied stunt outside David Jones in Perth
Notorious vegan activist Tash Peterson has caused outrage and confusion after she took to the streets wearing a bikini and fake blood to protest the sale of products made from animal skin.
The half-naked activist staged a bloody protest outside David Jones on Hay Street in Perth’s CBD on Monday, as part of a joint protest with animal rights group PETA against the department store giant.
She made her message loud and clear by lying on a “blood-soaked chopping block” marked with the words: “David Jones: Throw away the skins of wild animals.”
In a video she posted to her Instagram, Peterson said, “Animals aren’t coats, bags, and belts, they’re people feeling pain.”
“Animals are brutally tortured, abused and killed alive so they can be used as coats, shoes, bags and belts,” she said as she stood on the block.
Shoppers walked past, while another was spotted eating her lunch behind the activist as she continued her angry tirade against David Jones.
“This is outright animal abuse. Animals should have the right to live just like we do,” she said.
Her snakeskin bikini was made to resemble an “abuse-ridden reptile” to warn the public about allegations of animal cruelty.
Notorious vegan activist Tash Peterson (pictured) has appeared scantily clad and covered in fake blood to protest against David Jones in Perth’s CBD
The latest stunt came after Peterson pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct and criminal damage for a similar stunt at another Perth shopping centre two days before Christmas in December.
Previous incidents include the pouring of fake blood on the glass of a butcher’s shop and two separate confrontations at Fyre restaurant in Perth’s northern suburb of Connolly last year.
Peterson last week promised the West Australian party she would be “more tactical” with her protests.
But on Monday, Peterson was back on the streets pulling off bloody stunts, describing the punishments for her previous protests as “absurd.”
“It’s absurd that pouring fake blood over a butcher shop to raise awareness of animal cruelty is considered a crime, while selling real blood and real body parts of murder victims in that same butcher shop is legal,” she explained as she walked down Hay Street in a bikini.
She also claimed that an undercover agent had “infiltrated” her group to “gather information about my activism.”
The protest (pictured) came just a week after Ms. Peterson pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct and criminal damage for an incident in December
“The police are using a huge amount of resources to stop me from protesting for animal rights,” she told her followers.
But let me be clear: I will never stop standing up for the most oppressed victims on this planet.
Peterson is currently banned from leaving Western Australia under a six-month community order made by a magistrate at the Joondalup District Court last month.
She was also fined thousands of dollars and ordered to perform 30 hours of community service.
Previous antics have led to police and policymakers in Western Australia calling her “Australia’s greatest scourge”.