Just in case those pesky foreign talent civil activists protesters think we’re all smiles not serious about our protest licensing scheme ban:
Peta protesters detained and deported
Straits Times Interactive. Sep 8, 2006, 7.10 pm (Singapore time)
ANIMAL rights activists were detained and deported on Friday after the police triangulated their cell phone signals and tracked the pair down to a TCC outlet in Bencoolen Street.
The protesters from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) were planning to parade outside a Kentucky Fried Chicken outside in Victoria Street – wearing nothing but banners reading: ‘Naked Truth: KFC Tortures Chicks’.
American Jason Baker, 34, and Canadian Ashley Fruno, 20, were ordered to leave Singapore after a nine-hour interrogation.
A third member, Sonia Astudillo, 26, arrived in Singapore on Thursday and was immediately detained. She would be deported.
They chose KFC because unlike Macdonald’s and Burger King, the fried chicken franchise has yet to sign on to ‘welfare policies’, and had ignored recommendations for animal welfare improvements, claims Peta.
A company spokesman said in response to the allegations, ‘KFC is committed to good animal welfare practices and all KFC poultry suppliers meet or exceed animal welfare legislation and industry standards.’
This is not the first time the activists have protested here.
Their most recent attempt was made in February, when a member paraded along Orchard Road in a chicken suit and gas mask, protesting poultry culling due to the avian flu threat.
‘The police didn’t bat an eyelid then,’ said Baker, who is also director of the Asia-Pacific Arm of Peta.
‘We are shocked at being deported,’ said Baker, who currently resides in Hong Kong.
Perhaps Baker was shocked because they were being smiled at throughout the nine-hour interrogation.
At least he and Fruno were planning to wear banners. If Sarah Jane had protested, as she does here, she would have been slapped with indecency charges and then deported.
Oh, did you notice how the police triangulated their cell phone signals and tracked the pair down? Just like in the movies!
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