“8000 locust, 2000 crickets, 4000 cockroaches. See you tomorrow night,” was the text Huck Magazine writer Michael Segalov received hours before activists unleashed those exact breeds and quantities of insects inside a Byron burger location in London. The bugs came from activists upset by some recent anti-immigration activities at the chain and their vengeance was swift.
Image: Shutterstock
The burger chain has come under fire after it called a series of staff meetings to their locations that turned out to be immigration sting operations. The Guardian reported that of the 35 arrested at least 25 have already been deported. And now, and Londoners are pissed.
Protests are ongoing, but the almost Biblical bug release is among the most creative. One activist told Huck Magazine:
[UK television personality] Katie Hopkins called [migrant workers] cockroaches in an article just a few months ago. We want to show these people what cockroaches really look like, and we’ll unleash them on places like this if they don’t change their ways.
If the purpose was to create a visual metaphor for the ugliness of a company’s business practice, it doesn’t get more apt than this:
Activists released thousands of bugs in a busy London restaurant last night. https://t.co/rSbATXfU9F #boycottbyron pic.twitter.com/ITD3bqhQnF
— HUCK (@HUCKmagazine) July 30, 2016
While 14,000 insects makes a point not soon forgotten, it’s doubtful those responsible for holding these raids were the ones responsible for cleaning up the mess.
[Huck via GrubStreet]