Six animal risers have been declared for assaulting Muller’s dairy products in protests that halted Miller’s dairy products.
Activists, part of the group’s 2022 “Stop Supply” action, were each handed 60 hours of unpaid community work, a £666 compensation order to be paid to Muller, and a victim surcharge of £114.
The protest formed part of a week-long national campaign targeting dairy processors that include Muller, Freshways and Aarra foods.
The action has blocked the trucks, leading to temporary milk shortages in some supermarkets and retailers across the UK.
Initially, due to insufficient evidence, the six people who were acquitted in January 2024 were later convicted after Crown Prosecutor’s Service successfully appealed the decision in March this year.
One activist, 30-year-old Daniel Juniper from Bristol, highlighted the relationship between climate change and food security, pointing to “floods, droughts and losses in yields” as the growing threat.
He states:
Juniper also warned that increasing intensification of agriculture will “result in more animals suffering, more farmers suffering, and worse outcomes for natural outcomes.
Last year, an animal-rising activist was fined almost £60,000 after causing major damage to one of Aarla’s dairy distribution sites in Hertfordshire.
Several members of the protest group broke into the Hatfield factory in September 2022, causing about £100,000 worth of damage in 20 minutes.
After a major investigation, an officer at Hertfordshire Constabrary was arrested, with 14 people suing conspiracy to cause criminal damage.
Mo Metcalf-Fisher, foreign affairs director for the Countryside Alliance, welcomed the ruling at the time, calling the case “blatant holiganism and vandalism.”
He states: “It’s right that criminals are brought to trial. The public is tired of seeing the confusion caused by activists distorted by a handful of obsessions, and it is commendable that Constabrary, Hertfordshire, pursued the case so closely.”
