THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701260115
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: 30 lines
Five anti-fur protesters - four from Virginia - were arrested in front of Macy's Herald Square store Saturday, covered in fake blood and with steel-jawed traps attached to their legs, police and the activists' spokesman said.
The protesters, all members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, were cheered on by a group of 50 chanting, sign-waving supporters, spokesman Andrew Butler said.
Butler said PETA members organized the protest after Macy's officials refused a request that the store stop selling fur.
``We were outraged that Macy's continues to ignore animal suffering by accepting furriers' blood money,'' Butler said. ``They sell a lot of fur and they're pushing it to their customers . . . We want them to stop stocking fur and realize that every year, millions of fur-bearing animals are trapped, drowned and beaten to death in the wild.''
The protesters - Muriel Ducloy, Patrick McVicor, Zoe Rappaport and Janette Reever, all of Norfolk, Va., and David Fishman, of New York City - were charged with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct, said Butler and Officer Olga Mercado, a police department spokeswoman.
Representatives of Macy's could not be reached for comment late Saturday afternoon.