French Butchers Ask for Government Protection From Vegans

French butchers have asked the government for protection against vegans who have protested their shops, likening their actions to terrorism. According to the BBC, the French Federation of Butchers claims their shops have been splattered with fake blood and defaced with “anti-meat graffiti and stickers” in recent months. “It's terror that these people are seeking to sow, in their aim of making a whole section of French culture disappear,” Federation chief Jean-Francois Guihard said. Butchers being targeted by protesters is not a new phenomenon in France, but declining meat sales might signal a growing aversion to meat. In March, a vegan received a suspended prison sentence for posting a message on Facebook that said the “killing of a butcher by an Islamist militant was ‘justice.’”