Wayne Hsiung, co-founder of animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) was recently arrested along with an underage activist involved in the organization on April 24 in Boulder, Colorado.
The two were arrested on suspicion of trespassing at a Whole Foods Market store in Boulder. Shannon Aulabaugh, a spokesperson for the Boulder Police Department, told the Boulder Daily Camera that Hsiung and the minor, who Hsiung identified as Ateret Goldman, were taken into custody after the pair were trying to film interviews with stores customers and employees, in which people were asked questions about eating meat.
Goldman, according to the Daily Camera, had previously been arrested at a 2017 protest.
DxE, on its Facebook page, criticized Whole Foods because they “had a 16-year-old activist arrested for politely, nonviolently asking a question about where their meat comes from.” The organization further urged its followers to contact both the store and Whole Foods’ corporate office and “ask them to stop arresting teenagers for asking questions.”
Other recent Direct Action Everywhere trespassing allegations
The arrest of the two individuals isn’t the first time DxE activists have had run-ins with the law. In August 2017, DxE member Jonathan Frohmayer was arrested on suspicion of trespassing after he allegedly refused to stop blocking a truck while on the property of Petaluma Poultry in Petaluma, California. Other activists were also at the scene in the Petaluma case, but Frohmayer was the only one who allegedly did not comply with police requests to move.
The animal rights organization also had members involved in filming a video at a Jaindl Family Farms facility recovery barn. Following the release of that video, Bell & Evans, a company that has its turkeys raised and processed by Jaindl, said the video was illegally produced while those filming the footage were trespassing on the farm during the nighttime hours.
