During the World Week for the Abolition of Meat ending September 30, activists from the French animal protection group L214 came together in a square in the city of Paris, where they exhibited dead animals in their hands to show, in tangible form, the reality about hunting, fishing, and farming sentient beings for food.

Participant (M): People were very serious; they weren’t making fun. I mean, we need this in order for us to make the connection between the piece of “clean” meat that we have on our plate and the fact that an animal or a fish had to be killed in order to get this.

Citizen (F): And all this cruelty and violence will turn against humans; it is unavoidable!

VOICE: Parisians are showing greater awareness about meat consumption and animal cruelty, with more such rallies, as well as more vegan and vegetarian restaurants. In October 2010, Paris Vegan Day was a huge success in just its second year with around 5,000 participants. The city has also been especially active
in the global movement toward the abolition of meat, which states that meat consumption cannot be justified ethically and therefore should be banned.

Estiva Reus – Spokesperson, L214 Association; vegetarian (F): If we want to abolish slaughtering, fishing, livestock, it will also have to be done at a political level. It is just like slavery. It would have been nice if slave masters had enough conscience to free their slaves. But the problem was solved when it became forbidden by law, and I hope that one day we will get to that.

VOICE: In an encouraging act at the government level, Mayor of the 2nd District of Paris Jacques Boutault introduced a weekly meat-free day in the district's schools as of January 2009 and has since been promoting reduced meat consumption.

Jacques Boutault – Mayor, 2nd District of Paris, France (M): A whole generation of youngsters in Paris attending those schools and cafeterias will understand that we can feed ourselves differently, well, in a tasty and pleasant way, without necessarily having to have meat in each meal. This will contribute to a radically new cultural evolution for us in France and in Europe. There are environmental consequences that make people suffer from disease, from the consequences of climate change, which we can avoid by eating less meat.
There are people who die prematurely, because of not eating right.

So in fact, my approach consists of eventually saving lives. And we don’t have enough conscience to realize what the animals have to go through in order for us to eat their flesh, as if they weren’t living beings.
This will allow us to realize that the suffering of animals is a reality on which we need to work and against which we need to fight.

VOICE: Our thankful applause, Honorable Mayor Boutault for acting to address the urgent problem of meat consumption, and our deep appreciation to L214 and Parisians supporting the respect and freedom of our animal co-inhabitants. May world citizens and governments alike make ever-larger strides toward a cruelty-free and vegan world.

http://www.parisveganday.fr/informations/paris-vegan-day-2009/
http://www.meat-abolition.org/en/wwam