Two others were given suspended sentences for aiding and abetting militant vegan protests.<\/p>\n The court heard how\u00a0Cyrile and Mathilde took part in night-time attacks on shops that served or sold meat as well as places that sold fur, causing criminal damage and tagging the businesses with phrases such as \u201cStop Specism,\u201d \u201cAssassins,\u201d and \u201cTheir skin, not yours.\u201d<\/p>\n Local media reports that since mid-2018, several businesses dealing in animal and fish products have been vandalised in the Lille metropolis by militant animal rights activists who campaign to stop humans being \u2018prioritised\u2019 above animals in what has been termed \u2018antispecism.\u2019<\/p>\n Described<\/a>\u00a0as a legal first in French media, lawyer for the Northern Butchers\u2019 Union\u00a0Damien Legrand hopes that the \u201cunprecedented judgement\u201d yesterday will \u201cmark an end to the actions perpetrated\u201d against businessmen by militant vegans.<\/p>\n Veganism is relatively rare in France, however it is\u00a0reportedly<\/a>\u00a0on the rise. Last spring, French butchers called on the government to protect them following a spate of attacks from vegans, with the federation of butchers chief Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Guihard\u00a0writing<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s terror that these people are seeking to sow, in their aim of making a whole section of French culture disappear.\u201d<\/p>\n Breitbart London\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0in December that counter-terrorism police were being engaged to offer guidance to the meat industry in the face of rising vegan militantism, while in May 2018 vegan activists identifying with the animal rights extremism group Animal Liberation Front\u00a0threatened<\/a>\u00a0to firebomb a Kent butcher shop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two \u2018antispecist\u2019 militant vegans have been given jail sentences for attacking and burning a series of butchers, shops, and restaurants in northern France. The Criminal Court of Lille sentenced Cyrile, a 23-year-old social mediator, to 10 months\u2019 imprisonment while 29-year-old nursery school worker Mathilde was sentenced to six months\u2019 imprisonment on Monday,\u00a0according\u00a0to\u00a0Le Figaro. The pair … <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2019_antispecist-activists-france-300x225.png\")
<\/a>The pair had committed 15 attacks between November 2018 and February across the Hauts-de-France region, damages including broken shop windows, graffiti, and attempts to burn down premises with petrol, which caused severe fire damage.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2019_marlowbutchers-300x157.png\")
<\/a>\u201cWe needed the example so that, finally, it puts a stop to these acts perpetuated by small groups with extremist and deeply violent ideas,\u201d the butchers\u2019 union spokesman\u00a0added<\/a>.<\/p>\n