(CN - HK) Fur flies at Fashion Week event

[Guest guest]

Hong Kong Standard

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11 & art_id=60070 & sid=1710931\

2 & con_type=1 & d_str=20080115 & sear_year=2008

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

 

The opening minutes of Hong Kong Fashion Week's fur seminar came under a

PETA attack yesterday.

Two members of PETA, or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals,

infiltrated a fur function being held at the Hong Kong Convention and

Exhibition Centre.

 

Campaigners Ashley Fruno and Rebecca Chui Shin-ping waited 15 minutes before

commandeering the " Let Fur Inspire You " seminar, unfurling a banner reading

" Fur Hurts " and chanting " Fur is Murder " in Cantonese and English before

being tackled by security guards. The two were carried out of the venue by

guards who also confiscated their banner.

 

This is the second time that PETA has managed to infiltrate Hong Kong's

annual fashion week. Last year, the group stormed the catwalk during a

fashion show holding anti-fur banners and chanting before being ejected.

 

 

TIMOTHY CHUI

 

 

 

Hong Kong Standard

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11 & art_id=59937 & sid=1709681\

1 & con_type=1 & d_str=20080114 & sear_year=2008

 

Monday, January 14, 2008

 

Two people wearing little more than their birthday suits will appear near

the Golden Bauhinia statue in Wan Chai today to protest against what they

call an unacceptable and inexcusabale trade.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals campaigners Ashley Fruno and

Katrina Lugartos, both 21, will sport a banner reading " We'd rather go naked

than wear fur " outside a Hong Kong fashion week seminar called Let Fur

Inspire You.

 

Fruno and other PETA members stole the show at last January's Cecilia Yau

and Peter Lau fashion show at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition

Centre's World Boutique when they stormed the runway brandishing anti-fur

banners and slogans before being dragged away by security officials.

 

 

Fruno said the group had no plan for a repeat of last year's performance,

adding convention organizers had denied them access this time around.

 

" With so many stylish, comfortable alternatives to fur available - there's

no excuse for supporting one of the most hideous industries on the planet, "

Fruno said.

 

PETA is trying to spread knowledge of the grim reality of the fur trade, in

which it says animals suffer in pain for days and are killed by stomping,

drowning, poisoning and electrocuted through orifices to leave their pelts

unmarked.

 

Having campaigned as a cavewoman and as a walking butcher's diagram last

year, today's protest is Fruno's third appearance in Hong Kong.

 

" We fight wherever and whenever there is cruelty to animals. The fact that

it is in Hong Kong today means we're going to be there, " she said.

 

TIMOTHY CHUI