Thomas Chiang knew that locking himself to a machine built to facilitate death was dangerous but said he did it for a reason: 'We have to escalate all of our actions because this is a global crisis we're under.'
KATE LARSEN: ‘Video footage by activist group Direct Action Everywhere, shows terrified protestors crying out for help as a duck slaughter processing line, that they’re chained to, starts to move. “We need to stop this right now,” screamed one activist. Panic set in when the machine started pulling animal rights activist, Thomas Chiang’s head and neck, into a pole. “Almost decapitating my head from my neck,” said Chiang, who spoke to ABC7 via Facetime. “I was feeling my life leave my body, as I was struggling to get out of that lock.”
Chiang was one of the hundreds of activists who took buses to Petaluma to protest the Reichardt Duck Farm on Monday. But he was part of a smaller group who entered the farm, through marked fences, and shackled themselves to machinery with u-locks. Chiang knew that locking himself to a machine built to facilitate death was dangerous but said he did it for a reason. “We have to escalate all of our actions because this is a global crisis we’re under.” Chiang does not know who turned the conveyor line back on. After he escaped the lock, he was taken by ambulance to a hospital and says his injuries will heal. He’s still deciding whether to file a police report…
The Sonoma County Sheriffs Office told ABC7 they looked into the incident. Reichardt Farm told them it was an accident and that the employee who turned on the machine inside, was unaware the protestors were chained to it outside… Sheriffs deputies arrested 80 protestors on Monday, most of whom were booked into jail on misdemeanor trespassing and felony conspiracy… Protestors appeared in court… The Sonoma County District Attorney told the protestors a filing decision has not been made, so they were released’. SOURCE…
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