Britain First stages Islamophobic ‘invasion’ of London halal slaughterhouse

The far-right, anti-Muslim, Britain First (BF) party decided to “invade” a halal slaughterhouse in London over the weekend, while its deputy head went on an incoherent Islamophobic rant.  

Posted to the group’s page on Monday, a video shows a number of Britain First members, including deputy leader Jayda Fransen, getting riled up over animal rights violations... but only those taking place in halal slaughterhouses.

Scored with ominous music and scenes of butchers cutting meat, what many may find the most terrifying about the video is Fransen’s frenzied presenting skills.

The group enters the butcher shop and begins shouting at the workers behind the counter, as well as the bewildered customers. “Do you realize you’re in Great Britain?” she says. “Why are you offering these animals up to Allah?”

A man tries to answer, but the questions appear to have been rhetorical, as BF’s deputy head immediately interrupts. “Have any of you got any morals? Look at all these people here, buying halal slaughtered meat. You are in Great Britain. Halal slaughter is barbaric.”

This Animal Aid video of British slaughterhouse cruelty would suggest non-halal slaughter is inhumane.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

“Look at you, every single one of you. Do you not understand this is a Christian country? I don’t know where you guys get off. Inhumane, that’s to say the very least,” Fransen says.

“(It) funds terrorism. It goes to fund Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda, ISIS,” another member chimes in, though sounding a little unsure of himself.

Fransen then loudly declares that her grandfather fought for “this country. And he didn’t do it to turn it into a ‘little Pakistan’ by carrying out these barbaric practices for a disgusting, vile ideology that follows a false prophet.”

Although Fransen doesn’t specify exactly which conflict her grandfather participated in, in both World Wars Britain depended on the Indian Army, which was up to 40 percent Muslim at the time, as Pakistan and India had not yet separated.

Fransen tells the camera that no Christian should eat halal, as the Bible says, “Do not eat anything that’s been offered up to a false God.” Fransen then calls Allah Satan.

The video cuts to the BF gang heading to another room. “Go on then, show me the Muslim who is offering these poor animals that have been slaughtered barbarically!” she shouts. “You are funding terrorism, every single one of you!”

“There’s a man who doesn’t mind having blood on his hand,” she says, pointing to a butcher chopping up Halal meat that has been drained of blood.

A British First man asks where the slaughter takes place, and the butcher immediately offers to show him.

The camera cuts to a few burly men trying to barge past a small butcher, sending a piece of hanging meat flying. “Who do you think you are?” he asks, “Get out.”

“All of that is so you can appease a minority,” Fransen says before the group attempts to enter the area where the animals are kept. They manage to film goats through the door before the film cuts to a reminder to vote Britain First in the May 5 London elections.

The video may not have achieved its intended goals, however, as news of the “exposé” was met with scorn across social media.

Halal

While Britain First’s concern for animal welfare is suspect, given that it failed to voice similar outrage over Kosher or battery farms, its portrayal of halal slaughter is also sorely lacking.

According to Halal rules, an animal must be alive and healthy at the time of its slaughter and its blood must be drained from the body before eating. It is forbidden to kill an animal by strangling or a blow to the head. According to the Halal Food Authority, modern methods should be considered with caution.

The non-religious method of animal slaughter employs stunning, but this is not a pain-free method either. CO2 poisoning and an electric water bath are two methods currently in use.

According to the UK Department for Environment, both halal and kosher slaughter must be carried out by a professional certified to perform it, and back up stun equipment must be on hand in case the animal experiences pain or is injured. Both the carotid arteries and jugular veins must be cut during the slaughter, to bring about a quick death.

Food Standards Authority data from 2011 states that 84 percent of cattle, 88 percent of chickens, and 81 percent of sheep are stunned before being killed for Halal meat.