Vegans demonstrating in ‘meditative action’

For the past five Tuesday afternoons a small group of vegan activists  have been  demonstrating in Great King St/State Highway 1  in North Dunedin, but organisers say it is  about "meditative action" rather than protest.

Dunedin couple Michelle and John Gillanders have organised the Bearing Witness Vegan Group, and say the site  was chosen  because it was on a  stock truck route. 

"We want to emphasise that we are not against stock truck drivers," Mr Gillanders said.

The group did not have a fixed membership, and anyone was able to join the demonstration if they wanted to.

Mrs Gillanders said she had been vegan for about five years, and Mr Gillanders  for about four.

The couple had a 20-month-old daughter, who was also being raised as a vegan. Mrs Gillanders said Bearing Witness did not have a goal for how many people they wanted to attract to the demonstrations, which were "meditative action". She wanted  to highlight  that animals were more than "objects or commodities to be used".