The officer was polite and respectful of the group that numbered about 10 peaceful activists.

The protest lined the curb of the wide SoHo sidewalk directly in front of the Sport Max storefront. A large banner which said “FUR TRADE, DEATH TRADE” was held along with signs depicting the bloody mutilated remains of animals who had been skinned for their fur. The chanting began……”Stop the Insanity, No Blood for Vanity” and “No more cages, No more traps….No more fur on Max Mara’s racks”….and filled the night air.

SoHo is a busy place on Friday night. Street vendors line the streets and sell everything from jewelry to original artwork. Directly next to the protest was an artist with large stand up racks of original artwork whose theme was peace and love. The protest was proceeding peacefully until a hotheaded woman came out of Sport Max looking
crazed and demented. Within moments this lunatic charged the protest line trying to rip the banner and poster out of the hands of one protester.

When the group videographer moved closer to take pictures, he was attacked along with another activist, both of which were knocked off of their feet and over a low fence into shrubbery. In the process, her attacked caused the racks of original artwork to come crashing down damaging some of the art. The violent out of control woman had identified herself as being a photographer for Max Mara. She immediate tried to flee the scene of the physical assault. Activists joined by other pedestrians blocked her car from leaving while at the same time calling the police.

Seeing that she was not going to be able to leave before the police arrived, the crazy woman took refuge in Sport Max. The activists apologized to the artist; he made it clear that no apology was necessary as he had seen that the woman was the one who was at fault.
The artist went into Sport Max holding a piece of damaged art. After a short conversation something changed hands (money?…..a check?….a business card?). When the artist came out of the store, his
recollection of the event had changed dramatically.

Police arrived and were told what had happened. The street was full of witnesses who saw the entire unprovoked attack. No one was questioned or asked for an account. After hearing the activists complaint and being told of the injuries of two activists, police went into Sport Max to get the attackers side of the story. Meanwhile the artist hastily tried to leave the scene of the crime.

The evening which already had shades of Twilight Zone written all over it, turned even weirder, when police protectively brought the mad woman out of the store and escorted her to her car and chastised
activists not to bother her. Activists were told that the crazy woman had “graciously” agreed not to press charges against the activists she attacked! Huh?????? The artist, who had openly and publicly
proclaimed that the activists were totally innocent, had decided that maybe he really didn’t see it that way anymore. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Police then spent the next 15 minutes telling the activists that they needed a permit to stage a protest (not true), that they needed to notify the precinct by phone before any demonstration (also not true) and that if they had been notified about the demo, they would have had a squad car stay for the duration of the protest (not true because they knew the protest was going on and choose to leave the scene, because it was clear that the protest was peaceful and legal).
Although discouraged by their mistreatment by the NYPD, activists moved on to another location in the same neighborhood.

Demo#2: Max Mara – 813 Madison Avenue

For the second day in a row, activists protested outside a Max Mara store to expose their role in the horrific fur trade. "Hey Max Mara what do you say? How did you torture your fur today?! Gassing, trapping, anal electrocution!" Demonstrators wielded placards of skinned animals and other gruesome images, including some snapshots of the berserk Max Mara employee from the previous night.

Unfortunately she was not able to grace them with her presence this time around. Perhaps the charming woman works in their corporate office? Blood lust seems to be a necessary qualification when working for animal abusers and perverts. Instead, activists had to be content with the numerous people requesting literature about Max Mara's blood-soaked showrooms.

VIDEO CLIPS:

Sportmax pt.1

Sportmax pt.2

MaxMara pt.1

MaxMara pt.2