Wednesday, January 25, 2006

WAR Returns to Basso Fur Salon & Puppy Killer Deryck Maughan

On Wednesday, January 25 th WAR returned to Madison Avenue to re-engage the fur ghouls at Dennis Basso Fur Salon. Three activists with an educational outreach table on the evils and cruelty of fur were virtually surrounded by as many as 10 members of the New York Police Department. Dennis Basso, who was working in the store that day scurried away, flanked by his bodyguards just as soon as the videotape of the horrors of the fur industry started rolling. Later that afternoon as more activists arrived and the playing field was leveled, the group turned the outreach event into a loud and aggressive protest. WAR organizers took note of the fact that Jean Paul Gaultier and Fendi Salons have both closed their Madison Avenue storefront locations that were located adjacent to Dennis Basso. Looks like Madison Avenue furriers are starting to react to WAR's vocal presence.

Our next stop was the posh Fifth Avenue digs of Sir Deryck Maughan, who sits on the Board of Directors of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). We have been to this location many times and no doubt we will keep returning until Deryck cuts his cruel ties to GLS or until GSK cuts its ties to the puppy killing scum at Huntingdon Life Sciences. This has to be one of our favorite locations. Each time we come to this location, Deryck's neighbors seek us out to ask questions and to express their horror and dismay at knowing that one of their neighbors is responsible for such abhorrent animal cruelty. We have had many of his friends and associates promise to share their feeling with Deryck.

Final stop of the evening was at Dennis Basso's prestigious Central Park West ground floor apartment. Once again, Basso's ground floor windows were wide open and his partner Michael Comminotto was, once again, surprised as he came to the door in his underwear, to be greeted by angry protesters. When will they ever learn? A protest was in progress, when the NYPD arrived and strong-armed the activists into stopping. Apparently, Central Park West is a “Free Speech Exclusion Zone” and peaceful legal protests are no longer allowed. We'll see about that. The protest was concluded when all activists were threatened with arrest and one activist was given a Desk Appearance Ticket after being charged with disorderly conduct. We left several police officers and their squad cars with flashing lights brightening the night to a quote from John F. Kennedy: “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable. WE WILL BE BACK!