Steakhouse Protesters Fail to Inspire Patrons

Regardless of where you stand on the issue of meat consumption (vegan or vegetarian, rare or medium-well), you may agree after watching the video below that this was not what one would call a successful protest. By successful, I mean the protesters hoped that the people whose dinner was disrupted would leap to their feet, renounce their meals, and join the protest effort. Didn't happen:

Some details, courtesy of Yahoo News:

The vegephiles set upon The Keg Mansion Steakhouse and Bar in Toronto earlier this week, delivered some cheesey stand up about the conspicuous lack of dog on the menu, and moved on to stimulate some debate.

Loudly.

As bemused and annoyed diners rolled their eyes, the group chanted: "It's not just meat. It's violence," until they were removed to the sidewalk. 

This was phase one of their protest movement:

According to their Facebook page, the stunt was part of a day of action and their first ‘disruption’ of the day.

They carried on to disrupt a butcher and a few other businesses, mostly by writing 'Dog Meat Please' with chalk on footpaths.

The group appears happy with its efforts, but praise for the events has been, shall we say, localised.

Traffic to their #DogMeatPlease has been slow to date and what does appear under the tag is a debate about their methods rather than their points. 

The protest group claims their goal was not to disrupt:

This group has used its Facebook page to defend its protests though, saying vegans have felt emboldened by their actions.

“First, our goal isn’t so much to disrupt the people who are in an establishment, or even to disrupt the establishment itself (although obviously we are disrupting both),” Direct Action Everywhere Toronto wrote on its Facebook wall.

“Second, we are reaching out to fellow vegans and would-be activists who may feel alone, disempowered or even ridiculed.” 

Judging by the reaction of the diners, I believe more ridiculing will soon follow.