Animal rights protesters are blockading four McDonald’s distribution centres in a bid to disrupt supply to around 1,300 restaurants.

Animal Rebellion said it was using vans and bamboo structures at the sites in Hemel Hempstead, Basingstoke, Coventry and Heywood in Greater Manchester, to stop lorries leaving depots.

The demonstrators are demanding McDonald’s commit to becoming fully plant-based by 2025.

Animal Rebellion said it intends to remain at the sites for at least 24 hours, causing “significant disruption” to the fast food giant’s supply chain.

James Ozden, a spokesman for the group, said the action was aimed at challenging the animal agriculture industry for its part in the global climate crisis.

He said: “The meat and dairy industry is destroying our planet: causing huge amounts of rainforest deforestation, emitting immense quantities of greenhouse gases and killing billions of animals each year.

“The only sustainable and realistic way to feed ten billion people is with a plant-based food system. Organic, free-range and ‘sustainable’ animal-based options simply aren’t good enough.”

The group describes itself as “a mass volunteer movement using non-violent civil disobedience to help the transition to a plant-based food system”.

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