Wild moment vegan activist refuses a police demand to put her top on because she won’t follow ‘sexist requests’ during topless protest
- Vegan activist slammed officers as ‘sexist’ after they asked her to put a top on
- Tash Peterson had been protesting outside Nike store at Perth’s Hay Street Mall
- She was asked to conceal her bare chest which was covered only with pink paint
- Protester told cops she didn’t abide by ‘sexist requests’ and refused to cover up
A notorious vegan activist has slammed a police officer as ‘sexist’ after he asked her to cover her bare chest during one of her public protests.
Tash Peterson, 28, from Western Australia, uploaded footage from her semi-nude demonstration at Perth’s Hay Street Mall to her social media on Sunday.
In the video, the plant-based protester holds a sign that reads: ‘Kangaroos shot and joeys beaten to death for Nike shoes,’ while wearing a kangaroo onesie.
Ms Peterson is approached by three police officers who ask her to cover up her chest – which is covered with only pink body paint – and go home.
‘We’re just asking you politely to put a top on,’ one of the officers says to which the activist replies: ‘I was just standing there speaking out.’
‘No I’m not putting a top on,’ she continues. ‘I don’t abide to sexist requests.’
Ms Peterson was approached by three police officers who ask her to cover up her chest – which is covered with only pink body paint – and go home
The officer says he doesn’t think what he’s asking is a sexist request.
‘Well, there’s topless men walking around all the time and I don’t think he’d have three male police officers behind him, telling him to put a top on,’ she retorts.
The officer then describes Ms Peterson’s stunt as disorderly behaviour in public.
‘How is it insulting, offensive or threatening language or behaviour?,’ Ms Peterson asks, explaining this is how disorderly is described in legislation.
‘So how am I going breaking Section 74A in the legislation?’
The officer then stares at his phone before muttering: ‘No problems’.
The activist posted footage of her interaction with the cops to her social media profiles and told followers not to let them ‘push you around’.
The plant-based protester held a sign reading: ‘Kangaroos shot and joeys beaten to death for Nike shoes’ and wore a kangaroo onesie for the stunt (pictured)
Notorious vegan and animals rights activist Tash Peterson is no stranger to controversy
‘Stand up for your rights and stand up for non-human animal rights!’ she wrote.
‘Police abusing their power, banning me from peacefully protesting in a public space (I was standing in a public area outside a Nike store) because someone complained (apparently that means it’s disorderly when someone complains) and according to these police officers, the average person is offended by a topless woman.’
Ms Peterson also posted footage of the cardboard sign she was holding being thrown out of her hands by a passing shopper.
‘Do you want to come have a chat mate or are you going to walk off like a p****,’ she called after the man – who decided to keep walking.
It comes just months after she sparked controversy online after uploading a video begging Australians to stop referring to animals as ‘it’.
‘There’s a huge difference of how we address human animals and non human animals and at the end of the day, we’re forgetting we’re all animals and sentient beings,’ she explained in the ten-minute video.
Ms Peterson described the use of degrading language and euphemisms to describe animals as anthropocentric.
‘I’ve even heard it with people and their dogs and they know their dog’s gender but they’re still saying it,’ she said.
‘It’s just not a word to be using for an individual, it’s objectifying them and it’s devaluing them. They’re no different to us morally.’
‘You can say he/she, they/them, or just even saying the dog or the bird, at least appreciate they’re a living being.’
Ms Peterson has copped several fines for her semi-nude demonstrations which she has executed in designer stores, restaurants and supermarkets.
Last August, she marched topless through a Louis Vuitton store in Perth while smeared with her own menstrual blood.
Animals rights activist Tash Peterson (pictured) wants Australians to stop calling animals as ‘it’ when referring to them
She was heard chanting: ‘If you’re not a vegan, you’re an animal abuser’.
The activist has also dressed up as a cow and demonstrated in the meat section of supermarkets, invaded the pitch at an AFLW match, and donned a blood-soaked apron while screaming at patrons in a KFC and Coles.
She and her partner Jack Higgs were recently thrown out of an IGA supermarket in southern WA for refusing to wear a face mask, calling her treatment an ‘injustice’ and a breach of her ‘human rights’.
The pair refused to comply with the security guard’s instructions and entered the store before being approached by a worker who threatened to call the police.
She told Daily Mail Australia at the time they were ‘caught off guard’ by Premier Mark McGowan’s face mask mandate when they entered the store.
Ms Peterson explained they hadn’t seen many people wearing them days earlier and had dined at a café where they didn’t need a face-covering.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted WA police for comment.
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