A face-off between animal rights activists and groups supporting Niagara-on-the-Lakes horse carriages shut down traffic and got loud – but not violent, as the two sides met in the downtown district of the heritage city on Sunday.
Weekend strollers and tourists visiting NOTL for a breezy weekend afternoon suddenly found themselves in a heated and hours-long shouting match between the two camps as about one hundred members from different animal rights organizations marched to the intersection of King and Picton Street, where a standing manifestation was being held in support of carriages.
There, the group walked in circles in the intersection while singing and shouting slogans, surrounded by counter-protesters who did the same.
The two camps, watched by a handful of NRPS officers, ended up face-to-face on numerous occasions – at times so close that the beat of the drum from one of the groups kept the timing for the mass-cries from both sides.
Sunday’s protest was the result of long-standing tensions between animal rights activists that frequent NOTL on the weekends to protest the carriages, and defenders of the practice who say the activists are bullying and intimidating young carriage employees, residents and visitors who don’t share their opinion.
The conflict escalated recently after members from Locals For Carriages, a group that says it defends the horse carriage industry in town, showed up to an unrelated protest outside a Burlington slaughterhouse, donning signs that sparked rage among animal rights groups.
“We wouldn’t have come if you had not disrespected the memory of our friend!” shouted one of the protesters during an exchange, referring to animal rights activist Regan Russell, who died when she was protesting pig transports outside of the slaughterhouse.
Locals for Carriages co-founder Jennifer Jones-Butski previously told Thorold News that the group made a point of calling Russell's death a suicide since their counterpart referred to her death as murder.
During the July 30 protest, Jones-Butski and others were photographed holding a two-part sign, suggesting Russell committed suicide.
Jones-Butski refused to speak to Thorold News, claiming she had previously been misquoted in a report that stated she had held up part of the sign that called Russell's death a suicide.
Adam Stirr, co-founder of At War for Animals Niagara told Thorold News that he was shocked to see their adversaries ‘heckling’ and shouting during speeches in a nearby park by family members of Regan Russell, who were in attendance during the protest.
“We didn’t know it was going to be this aggressive,” said Stirr to Thorold News.
He said the purpose of Sunday’s gathering was to honor Russell's memory and to protest peacefully.
Asked what he thought about the protest shutting down traffic in the busy intersection on a Sunday, Stirr said:
“The purpose of a protest is to make it into a spectacle and draw attention.”
Police on the scene told Thorold News that the day got ‘tense’, but appears to have resolved when the two sides parted ways at around 4 p.m.
Animal rights activists present in NOTL on Sunday said they’ll be back to protest until the town follows other cities in North America that have banned horse-drawn carriages.
Locals for Carriages said that they are threatening legal action against the town in a recent letter to the mayor, obtained by local newspaper The Lake Report.
“We will not stand idle as this miscarriage of justice continues before our eyes. We have been forced to watch in helpless horror as individuals are robbed of their fundamental rights. Our pleas are ignored while you allow people - often dressed in combat gear and not readily identifiable as protesters – to enter the heart of our community and instill fear,” the letter states.
