Insects were thrown inside two burger restaurants by protesters. Activists tossed live cockroaches and crickets in the Byron Hamburgers Limited restaurants after immigration officials detained dozens of workers.
Hundreds of insects were crawling inside two burger restaurants in England; maybe they should contact Chief Mouser Larry or Gladstone to chase them away.
On Friday, several activists marched to two Byron Hamburger restaurants, one located in Central St Giles in London and the other at Holborn, a district in the West End, central London, and they released insects into the buildings.
According to the activists, some of the bugs unleashed into the eateries included cockroaches, locusts, and crickets. The protesters took drastic action against Byron Hamburger because of an immigration raid, which occurred earlier this month.
According to several reports, on July 4, the company invited 35 staffers from 15 restaurants to what was supposed to be a training day. Instead, they were all arrested and later deported by UK border agents. The workers were from Brazil, Egypt, Albania, and Nepal.
That same day, the #boycottbyron started trending worldwide, and many Europeans vowed never to step foot in a Byron Hamburger restaurant. London Black Revs & Malcolm X Movement, which orchestrated the mass insect release, said in a statement:
“Byron carried out an underhand entrapment of its workers after 35 people were removed by immigration officials. We have taken affirmative action in response to the chain’s despicable actions in the past weeks having entrapped waiters, back of house staff and chefs in collaboration with UK Border Agency.”
The groups went on to say:
“Our actions should serve as a warning to other businesses in the hospitality and catering industry that you will be targeted by those who stand in solidarity with immigrants if you entrap migrant workers”.
Byron replied with a statement of their own:
“The safety of our customers and restaurant teams is paramount, and our priority is now to work with local police to minimise the risk of further incident.”
The two London restaurants were closed on Friday night and opened on Saturday after pest control visited.
Were the activists right or wrong to release insects in the burger restaurants?
Protesters throw hundreds of cockroaches into branches of Byron over immigration raids https://t.co/W7saEXClDH pic.twitter.com/qWz1xEOx3H
— Catrin Nye (@CatrinNye) July 30, 2016
Activists release thousands of bugs in a busy London restaurant this weekend. https://t.co/XuhM5jsdId #boycottbyron pic.twitter.com/E6Kvgu01Ob
— HUCK (@HUCKmagazine) July 31, 2016
Never, ever eating at @byronhamburgers again and would encourage others to make same decision. Craven, despicable behaviour #boycottbyron
— Abi Wilkinson (@AbiWilks) July 27, 2016
While what @ByronHamburgers did might be "legal" it is also a morally reprehensible act of entrapment. #BoycottByron
— Daniellè DASH (@DanielleDASH) July 28, 2016