POLICE were put on standby as dozens of protesters held a fresh demonstration outside a Primrose Hill butcher’s shop over its sale of foie gras.

Armed with loudspeakers and placards, animal rights campaigners, led by two vegan activist sisters, picketed the new Jack O’Shea Butchers in Regent’s Park Road on Saturday afternoon.

Foie gras usually involves force-feeding ducks or geese through a tube to fatten them up, but butcher Mr O’Shea says his is ethically produced and described the protest, the second in a fortnight, as being “rent-a-mob”.

He said he had to “remove” four of the protesters from his shop.

Mr O’Shea, who has become one of the country’s best-known meat experts after a number of television appearances, said: “Everyone is on my side, they actually did me a favour. 

“The neighbours and residents were furious and highly supportive of what we are doing. There is a petition supporting us going to the council.” 

Police were called just before 5pm on Saturday, but said that the protest finished peacefully just after 6pm and no arrests were made.

Chants of “your cruelty, your fault”, and “there’s no excuse for animal abuse” had rung out in the street, while “blood money” was scrawled on the pavement in chalk. 

Jane Frampton, 33, who founded the London Vegan Action group with her sister Phoebe Frampton, 23, said: “The practice is so bad it is banned here, so it is really important that we get it stopped. Jack O’Shea is telling people that his foie gras is different because his geese run around rather than being locked in cages, but it is still foie gras, so they are still being force-fed.”

The  sisters, who both live in Camden Town, regularly campaign against the sale of foie gras outside other shops.

Jane said: “We love to shake things up, as we know that is what creates change. You get all the businesses next door complaining, it causes a massive commotion, so people find out all about it.” 

She added that the majority of people who passed by seemed supportive of their cause, although one resident had told them “to shut up” for disrupting the peace of the neighbourhood.

Primrose Hill resident Nicola Kaufman filmed the campaigners as she was passing through the area with her daughter. She said that the protesters, were “intimidating” and were “physically blocking people from going in the shop.”

She added: “They frightened the children and their use of ‘blood money’ and other horrible phrases was really inappropriate on a Saturday afternoon whilst being projected through a loudspeaker.”