Campaigners were once again at the ‘French Products’ stall in the market square, Cambridge for a small leafleting demo. The demo was eventful to say the least. One aggressive man, believed to be a trader in the market poked his finger at campaigners and insulted them, even threatening the property of a female demonstrator, no doubt putting off any potential customers. The ‘French Products’ stall worker was as usual irritated by the presence of the peaceful individuals and used bad language in his normal style but, this time, decided to go further throwing a bucket of water at one of the peaceful campaigners. However the stall worker hadn’t had enough and came back with another bucket of water and again aimed it at the campaigner. Even in the face of this assault the protesters stayed calm.

The police were alerted but ended up not helping and even suggested that protesters stood away from the stall to protest! The stall worker, probably worried about the police decided to pack up and go home. Rather than attacking peaceful campaigners the protesters believe now is the time for ‘French Products’ to finally adopt a Foie-Gras free policy, dealing with the reason why some members of the Cambridge public may be avoiding their stall.

The production of the product at the centre of this controversy, Foie Gras, is commonly made by stuffing food pipes down geese throats. The animals’ livers then painfully expand. Force feeding birds is unlawful in the United Kingdom, but because of trade rules the government claim they can’t ban Foie-Gras imports. Whilst a number of businesses big and small, are now Foie-Gras free zones, some traders continue to refuse to adopt policies against this controversial product.

The protesters hope that people will take the time to contact ‘French Products’ and let them know (politely) that it’s time to drop this abusive product from their stall. The campaigners would like to thank anyone contacting the business not only for their action, but for putting up with the ranting response they are likely to receive from ‘French Products’. The protesters would also like to warn campaigners that it might not be advisable to give any personal information to this business.

‘French Products’ e-mail and phone:

E-mail  frenchproducts@hotmail.com

Phone 0044-7847213011 (for UK callers, I believe you simply take off ‘0044’ and add ‘0’)

To learn more about Foie-Gras see

 http://www.viva.org.uk/campaigns/foiegras/index.html
 http://www.ciwf.org.uk/campaigns/other_campaigns/exotic_foods.html