Update on Harrods anti-fur campaign and subsequent court case
Paul Gravett | 27.03.2006 20:31 | Animal Liberation | London | World
A brief update on the legal action brought by Harrods department store against anti-fur protesters. Following this a more general article about Harrods and the fur trade with background information. For further details see www.caft.org.uk or email: 
caft@caft.org.uk
caft@caft.org.uk
In October 2005, anti fur protesters began a campaign to persuade the upmarket department store, Harrods to stop selling fur. In the 1980's Harrods had gone fur-free when it was the flagship store of the House of Fraser group, which renounced fur in 1989. However in 1993 Harrods became
separate from House of Fraser and soon went back on its fur-free policy - House of Fraser remains fur-free.
Following successful campaigns in the past few years against Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and Liberty, Harrods became the last department store in the country to sell real fur. To make matters worse, it was announced in Spring 2005 that Harrods was teaming up with the chairman of the British Fur Trade Association (BFTA) to launch a new British fur label. (see below for more background on this)
In December 2005 just a few months into the campaign, Europe's largest department store Harrods used its financial muscle and went to the High Court to seek an injunction against the protesters under the Protection from
Harassment Act, 1997. Harrods applied to have an no-protest exclusion zone around their store in Knightsbridge, London, which would effectively force any protests well away from the store on the opposite side of the road.
The action was taken against 3 individual campaigners and also named London Animal Action, a local group which had already been long defunct by this time. For good measure a 5th defendant was added, named as 'the unknown members of
the Animal Liberation Front', even though there had been no damage as part of the campaign. This was a blatant attempt to put lots of crimimal direct action reports into the evidence to try to influence the judge.
The three protesters appeared at the High Court to defend the action. Two were granted legal aid while the third defended himself. Predictably Harrods were represented by the infamous anti-animal rights lawyer, Timothy Lawson-Cruttenden.
At the hearing on 21st December, the Judge granted an interim injunction but it was far from the exclusion zone which Harrods applied for. It allowed 3 protesters by each of Harrods' 12 entrances, but did create an exclusion
zone of 10 metres around each entrance for all other protesters.
At a subsequent hearing in January, the Defendants managed to get this zone reduced to 5 metres, allowing protests to continue much as they had done before the action had been brought. With two very expensive hearings, and very little benefit for Harrods, they decided to sack Lawson Cruttenden as their lawyer and appoint a fresh firm of solicitors.
By the time of the third hearing in March it had been agreed that the ALF and LAA would have nothing to do with the proceedings and they were struck out, reducing the amount of evidence by well over half. However a new fourth defendant, CAFT (Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade) was added to the action.
A date for a final hearing is now set for June, but it is by no means certain it will get that far.
Meanwhile the protests have continued regularly at Harrods despite the legal action. We would appreciate some support from other groups in solidarity against this blatant attack on our right to protest. If you or your group can spare a Saturday to support our campaign, whether it's for an hour or the whole day, please email caft@caft.org.uk
Please contact Harrods and ask them to adopt a fur-free policy. KEEP ALL EMAILS POLITE, any abusive emails will be used by Harrods in the legal action.
If you get any replies please forward them to us.
Harrods Ltd 87-135 Brompton Road
Knightsbridge
London SW1X 7XL
Telephone 020 7730 1234
Fax 020 7581 0470
customer.services@harrods.com
Harrods Corporate Service
corporate.service@harrods
+44 (0)20 7225 5843
Other email addresses
Ladies.fashion@harrods.com
service@harrods-casino.com
direct.mail@harrods.com
Harrods and the Fur Trade (some of the same info with a bit more background)
In the 1980's, Harrods, Europe's largest department store, was the flagship store of the House of Fraser group which was itself the largest department store chain in Europe.
Following years of protests by anti-fur campaigners, House of Fraser announced it would no longer sell fur in any of its stores,including Harrods.
At the time, the store's owner, Mohammed al Fayed was quoted as saying "Our colour is green and it is my determination to make it greener. House of Fraser is Europe's biggest department stores group and we have a great responsibility." Their then media director Michael Cole stated, "The trade is
not as acceptable now as it used to be".
In 1993, Al Fayed and Harrods split from the House of Fraser group. Whilst the House of Fraser group has stuck to its no fur policy, Harrods has gradually allowed fur to creep back into the store.
In 2001, the UK government took the decision to ban the farming of animals for fur, but fur continued to be sold at Harrods. By the summer of 2005,following successful campaigns against Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and Liberty, Harrods became the only major department store in the UK which still sold real fur.
In Autumn 2005, Harrods teamed up with the chairman of the British Fur Trade Association to launch a new fur collection. Frank Zilberkweit, owner of Hockley Furs in London as well as head of BFTA, launched a new British fur
label, and the collection went on sale in Autumn 2005, available exclusively at Hockleys shop and Harrods.
In October, local campaigners began to organise regular and frequent protests at Harrods. During the Anti-Fur week, 22nd to 29th October there were protests every day. Protesters were shocked to discover the large amount and the wide range of sale on fur at the store, including various kinds of fox, rabbit, raccoon, mink and musquash.
By November the company became worried about the protests and a board meeting was held at which it was decided to go to the High Court to seek an injunction to stop the demonstrations, which were having an effect on their winter
sales.
As the legal action drags on through the courts, the campaign continues much as before.
Please contact Harrods ask them to adopt a fur-free policy. KEEP ALL EMAILS POLITE, any abusive emails will be used by Harrods in the legal action.
If you get any replies please forward them to: Caft@caft.org.uk
Harrods Ltd 87-135 Brompton Road
Knightsbridge
London SW1X 7XL
Telephone 020 7730 1234
Fax 020 7581 0470
customer.services@harrods.com
Harrods Corporate Service
corporate.service@harrods
+44 (0)20 7225 5843
Other email addresses
Ladies.fashion@harrods.com
service@harrods-casino.com
direct.mail@harrods.com
separate from House of Fraser and soon went back on its fur-free policy - House of Fraser remains fur-free.
Following successful campaigns in the past few years against Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and Liberty, Harrods became the last department store in the country to sell real fur. To make matters worse, it was announced in Spring 2005 that Harrods was teaming up with the chairman of the British Fur Trade Association (BFTA) to launch a new British fur label. (see below for more background on this)
In December 2005 just a few months into the campaign, Europe's largest department store Harrods used its financial muscle and went to the High Court to seek an injunction against the protesters under the Protection from
Harassment Act, 1997. Harrods applied to have an no-protest exclusion zone around their store in Knightsbridge, London, which would effectively force any protests well away from the store on the opposite side of the road.
The action was taken against 3 individual campaigners and also named London Animal Action, a local group which had already been long defunct by this time. For good measure a 5th defendant was added, named as 'the unknown members of
the Animal Liberation Front', even though there had been no damage as part of the campaign. This was a blatant attempt to put lots of crimimal direct action reports into the evidence to try to influence the judge.
The three protesters appeared at the High Court to defend the action. Two were granted legal aid while the third defended himself. Predictably Harrods were represented by the infamous anti-animal rights lawyer, Timothy Lawson-Cruttenden.
At the hearing on 21st December, the Judge granted an interim injunction but it was far from the exclusion zone which Harrods applied for. It allowed 3 protesters by each of Harrods' 12 entrances, but did create an exclusion
zone of 10 metres around each entrance for all other protesters.
At a subsequent hearing in January, the Defendants managed to get this zone reduced to 5 metres, allowing protests to continue much as they had done before the action had been brought. With two very expensive hearings, and very little benefit for Harrods, they decided to sack Lawson Cruttenden as their lawyer and appoint a fresh firm of solicitors.
By the time of the third hearing in March it had been agreed that the ALF and LAA would have nothing to do with the proceedings and they were struck out, reducing the amount of evidence by well over half. However a new fourth defendant, CAFT (Coalition to Abolish the Fur Trade) was added to the action.
A date for a final hearing is now set for June, but it is by no means certain it will get that far.
Meanwhile the protests have continued regularly at Harrods despite the legal action. We would appreciate some support from other groups in solidarity against this blatant attack on our right to protest. If you or your group can spare a Saturday to support our campaign, whether it's for an hour or the whole day, please email
caft@caft.org.uk Please contact Harrods and ask them to adopt a fur-free policy. KEEP ALL EMAILS POLITE, any abusive emails will be used by Harrods in the legal action.
If you get any replies please forward them to us.
Harrods Ltd 87-135 Brompton Road
Knightsbridge
London SW1X 7XL
Telephone 020 7730 1234
Fax 020 7581 0470
customer.services@harrods.com Harrods Corporate Service
corporate.service@harrods
+44 (0)20 7225 5843
Other email addresses
Ladies.fashion@harrods.com service@harrods-casino.com direct.mail@harrods.com Harrods and the Fur Trade (some of the same info with a bit more background)
In the 1980's, Harrods, Europe's largest department store, was the flagship store of the House of Fraser group which was itself the largest department store chain in Europe.
Following years of protests by anti-fur campaigners, House of Fraser announced it would no longer sell fur in any of its stores,including Harrods.
At the time, the store's owner, Mohammed al Fayed was quoted as saying "Our colour is green and it is my determination to make it greener. House of Fraser is Europe's biggest department stores group and we have a great responsibility." Their then media director Michael Cole stated, "The trade is
not as acceptable now as it used to be".
In 1993, Al Fayed and Harrods split from the House of Fraser group. Whilst the House of Fraser group has stuck to its no fur policy, Harrods has gradually allowed fur to creep back into the store.
In 2001, the UK government took the decision to ban the farming of animals for fur, but fur continued to be sold at Harrods. By the summer of 2005,following successful campaigns against Harvey Nichols, Selfridges and Liberty, Harrods became the only major department store in the UK which still sold real fur.
In Autumn 2005, Harrods teamed up with the chairman of the British Fur Trade Association to launch a new fur collection. Frank Zilberkweit, owner of Hockley Furs in London as well as head of BFTA, launched a new British fur
label, and the collection went on sale in Autumn 2005, available exclusively at Hockleys shop and Harrods.
In October, local campaigners began to organise regular and frequent protests at Harrods. During the Anti-Fur week, 22nd to 29th October there were protests every day. Protesters were shocked to discover the large amount and the wide range of sale on fur at the store, including various kinds of fox, rabbit, raccoon, mink and musquash.
By November the company became worried about the protests and a board meeting was held at which it was decided to go to the High Court to seek an injunction to stop the demonstrations, which were having an effect on their winter
sales.
As the legal action drags on through the courts, the campaign continues much as before.
Please contact Harrods ask them to adopt a fur-free policy. KEEP ALL EMAILS POLITE, any abusive emails will be used by Harrods in the legal action.
If you get any replies please forward them to:
Caft@caft.org.uk Harrods Ltd 87-135 Brompton Road
Knightsbridge
London SW1X 7XL
Telephone 020 7730 1234
Fax 020 7581 0470
customer.services@harrods.com Harrods Corporate Service
corporate.service@harrods
+44 (0)20 7225 5843
Other email addresses
Ladies.fashion@harrods.com service@harrods-casino.com direct.mail@harrods.com
Paul Gravett