VGT is taking advantage of the new freedom following the Supreme Court decision on the interim injunction and is demonstrating today with the 5 m pig “Grunzi” in front of the SPAR headquarters in Salzburg
Vienna (OTS) – SPAR’s lawsuit against the VGT to stop its campaign against SPAR to stop the supermarket giant from supporting full-split pig meat has made waves internationally. The facts were even sent to the EU Parliament upon request and may have also contributed to the anti-SLAPP lawsuit decision. Anyone who would have thought that SPAR would give in after the OGH ruling and withdraw the lawsuit after international criticism was wrong. There are no signs of this yet; the process will begin at the end of April. And what’s more, a SPAR employee photographed the VGT banners at the last rally against SPAR, no doubt to use them in the lawsuit against animal protection. The VGT will rise to the challenge and, if necessary, take the process to the highest authority. Ultimately, the freedom to criticize and lead animal protection campaigns against supermarkets is at stake.
But the Supreme Court’s ruling enables the VGT to take the protest to the supermarket chain’s headquarters again after more than 1 ½ years of banning demonstrations against SPAR. So the activists gathered there today, supported by the 5 m giant pig “Grunzi”, which is currently touring through Austria to draw attention to the suffering of pigs on fully slatted floors.
VGT chairman DDr. Martin Balluch cannot understand SPAR’s position: “SLAPP lawsuits, such as those brought paradigmatically by SPAR against the VGT, are perhaps (still?) legal, but not legitimate in terms of democratic policy. Here, a multi-billion dollar multinational corporation is trying to threaten an animal welfare association with high legal costs if it continues to criticize SPAR for its sales policy of full-slice pork. This approach is absolutely top notch. But SPAR apparently won’t even be stopped by a clear ruling from the Supreme Court. SPAR continues to demand that the VGT should not use the satirized form of the SPAR logo, even though this is not only common practice in democracies in international campaigns worldwide, but has also been explicitly approved by the OGH.
SPAR can therefore only be motivated to intimidate the VGT through high defense costs. We have already gotten through the animal welfare case, we will also get through SPAR’s SLAPP lawsuit. And we will continue to use the satirized logo.
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Press photos (Copyright: VGT.at)
Questions & Contact:
VGT – ASSOCIATION AGAINST ANIMAL FACTORIES
DDr. Martin Balluch
Campaign management
01 929 14 98
media@vgt.at
https://vgt.at