New York

New York City - Sponsored by the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages, Friends of Animals and Heart for Animals,  a demonstration was held at Columbus Circle with a march going down Central Park South and Fifth Avenue.  Council Member and Mayoral Candidate Tony Avella was there along with well known actress and Emmy  award winner, Swoosie Kurtz – along with 100 activists.

Rome

Rome - The event in Rome, held on Friday, June 5th, was a collaboration of many organizations and was a huge success. Organizations included OIPA, AVA, LEAL, NO ALLA CACCIA - LAC, LIDA, Petvillage and We Have a Dream.

About 40 activists demonstrated at the Piazza Venezia and collected many signatures on a petition to ban the carriage industry, known as botticelle. It was covered by TV, radio and newspapers

 

Philadelphia

Philadelphia - In Philadelphia , a vigil and petition gathering was sponsored by Friends of Animals on June 6th. About 23 activists participated and they got numerous signatures on a petition to ban the carriage industry and a lot of encouragement from passersby, including city workers (including a police officer). Two groups of people decided that they would not be taking a carriage ride after speaking to us. This was the first protest for this group and everyone was very energized to do it again soon. The campaign to ban horse-drawn carriages in Philadelphia was covered in the Philadelphia City Paper.

Austria

The demonstrations in Austria were in Innsbruck, Salzburg and Vienna, the three cities where horse drawn carriages are used. The rickshaws (called pedicabs in NYC) were a great eye-catcher and some people actually used them instead of the horse carriages - called Faikers. The documentary Blinders: the Truth Behind the Tradition was not able to be shown on the big screen outside because of bad weather. There are plans to do this in the next few weeks.

VGT wrote up this report about the Horses Without Carriages International Day.

Vienna Photos

Salzburg Photo

Innsbruck Photos

Dallas

The Animal Connection of Texas participated for the first time with our coalition. They were six peaceful activists handing out leaflets to passersby about the inhumane carriage industry. Their leafletting turned out to be more of an exercise in avoiding police harassment. They were watched by 3-4 police cars and 2 officers on bicycles.

Unbelievably in this wonderfully free country, these leafletters were slapped with a citation for exercising their first amendment rights.

See a video of the encounter on YouTube.

Victoria, British Columbia

The Friends of Animals chapter in Victoria sponsored the June 6th event. About 11 people participated, which is a record for this small city. They gathered many petition signatures and distributed leaflets. Energized at the positive reception of passersby, they will do it again very soon.

Boston

MARC - the Massachusetts Animal Rights Coalition sponsored the demo in Boston, which was well attended. Activists gathered petition signatures and influenced some people from taking carriage rides.