Animal Rebellion activists removed from Heston Blumenthal restaurant

Members of Animal Rebellion were removed from Heston Blumenthal’s Knightsbridge restaurant after staging a protest on Saturday evening.

At 7pm, eight members of the group occupied the two Michelin star restaurant as part of their campaign to demand a move to a plant-based food system.

Animal Rebellion protester Ben Thomas, 20, said diners at the upmarket Dinner, near Hyde Park, “rolled their eyes” and “threatened us” as a group of eight sat down at tables on Saturday night.

Some demonstrators from the group, which is an offshoot of Extinction Rebellion, were physically removed from the building while others were carried out by staff to heckles of “grow up” by one passer-by.

Student Mr Thomas described their removal from the two Michelin star establishment as “very rough and really heavy-handed”.

“We all went into the restaurant to occupy it,” he told the PA news agency.

“We were removed very quickly, the staff were incredibly rough with us. I was taken down the stairs by one person who literally dragged me down the stairs, scraping across the floor.

“They were tougher than how the police would deal with us. There was a member of the public who threatened us.

“Some were rolling their eyes.”

The group said it targeted the restaurant because it is “symbolic of the broken system”.

“These restaurants charge extortionate prices for animal products which are really harmful to the environment and the climate and just cater for the one per cent,” said Mr Thomas.

Previously, the group has also targeted Slate Bae’s Nusr-Et establishment and Restaurant Gordon Ramsey in Chelsea.

Michelle Farnham, 24, A psychology graduate, added: “Today, Animal Rebellion is declaring a national day of action. The luxury restaurants, like Heston Blumenthal’s, that are being occupied are symbols of a social and political system that is failing the 99 per cent.

“We need massive changes to our food system, alongside radical shifts towards renewable energy and a mass insulation programme.

“We know beyond all doubt that our current, animal-based, food system is wrecking the environment and the lives of billions of animals yearly.

“A plant-based food system would offer us food security in a sustainable, low-cost way. It's a no-brainer.”

The Animal Rebellion group earlier targeted the Michelin-starred House of Tides in Newcastle as part of a string of actions it said would continue over the winter.