ÖVP headquarters occupied

Only jam sandwiches in custody: animal rights activist files charges

Complainant Georg Prinz in front of the Provincial Administrative Court in Innsbruck. He considers the jam sandwiches in detention to be inadequate nutrition.

(Bild: VGT)

Must there be an extra menu for vegans in the cell? Following the occupation of the ÖVP headquarters in Tyrol, an animal rights activist was briefly detained. The one-sided diet of jam sandwiches has now led to him being taken to the provincial administrative court. Accusation: discrimination!

The rights of others - such as property and domestic rights - were apparently considered unimportant by animal rights activists in June. They occupied the ÖVP party headquarters in Innsbruck in protest against the keeping of pigs on fully slatted floors. 16 activists from the Association Against Animal Factories (VGT) chained themselves to the building, some of them with massive bicycle locks, and could only be carried away after an hour-long police operation. Understanding that such occupations are simply unlawful? Zero!

"Protecting world views from discrimination"
Now the tables have been turned and a complaint has been lodged with the Provincial Administrative Court, where the case was heard on Tuesday. Allegation: violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 9, which protects world views from discrimination.

The reason? Georg Prinz, Obperson-Stellvertreter (as the VGT calls the function), was provisionally arrested and had to spend around 20 hours in the police detention center.

Animal rights activists also held a poster out of the window of the party headquarters and attached their slogans there.

(Bild: zVg)

Supply one-sided and too sparse?
"Despite being told several times that he was vegan, he only received six slices of dry white bread and 100 grams of jam during the entire time. He was also given cow's milk butter and cow's milk coffee," says the association, describing the food as "sparse".

Every canteen kitchen would then have to offer a vegan option, and the military would also have to provide leather alternatives for boots and gloves.

Der VGT über die Folgen eines möglichen Urteils

VGT: ruling could have far-reaching consequences
The ball is now in the court's court to decide on the legal question of whether veganism is a "world view" that must be respected. Postscript: "Every canteen kitchen would then have to offer a vegan option, and the military would also have to provide leather alternatives for boots and gloves."

Prinz explained: "If I ate animal products, I would have to suffer physically and mentally. As the state also respects religious dietary regulations, it must also respect ideological ones."