Thomas Cook was targeted because it is the leading seller of UK holidays to Mauritius, which is in turn one of the leading exporters of primates used in animal testing labs. Campaigners were asking local shoppers to boycott Thomas Cook and book their holidays elsewhere until the travel agent stops selling holidays there. Tourism is Mauritius’s largest source of revenue, by hitting the economy the campaigners were hoping to stop the islands monkey trade.

However this information is not deemed appropriate for weekend shoppers consumption, ‘anything which is offensive will be removed,’ so says officer 3032. Threatening to arrest protesters under Section 5 of the Public Order Act (‘Causing Harassment Alarm or Distress’) the police claimed that there had been complaints about the five protesters, their pictures (of monkeys being tortured in labs) and their leaflets. Despite the fact many members of the public (myself included) had passed by and shown support for the cause the police continued to claim that harassment was being caused.

The police then threatened to arrest me under the same act for taking photographs of her majesty’s force in action. Apparently under the Data Protection Act I was also prohibited from taking photographs without permission. I have no idea whether this is true or not, but have been arrested recently and don’t have a spare 80 quid (which is the standard charge) to find out.

The chief Executive of Thomas Cook is Manny Fontenla-Novoa and can be reached at
Thomas Cook, PO Box 2
Coningsby Road
North Bretton
Peterborough
Cambs
PE3 8SB
Tel: 01733 417 100
His PA is Amanda Humphries ( amanda.humphries@thomascook.com)

The police are protecting the public from this information in case it might upset them. I am sure that we are all grateful for this protection and will thank the next policemen we see. Thomas Cook are helping reduce the primate population of Mauritius so I am sure we will all take this into consideration the next time we book our holidays.