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Amina Tariq was just trying to ask people to consider turning over a "new leaf" and go vegetarian when instead, she was detained and questioned by Jordanian authorities, who said she had no permission to hold a demonstration.
She was promoting vegetarianism and pointing out how animal agriculture devastates the environment in part because it consumes so much of the world's limited water supplies. AFP quotes PETA saying, "Even desert nations in Africa and the Middle East are pouring what little water they have into meat production... Each day, animal agriculture consumes a shocking 2.5 trillion litres (550 billion gallons) of water -- enough for everyone in the world to take eight showers."
Ashley Fruno, another PETA campaigner who was with Tariq, told AFP, "We contacted the Jordanian authorities a month ago, and they told us we did not need permission because it's not an actual protest since there would be one person involved." Yet that didn't stop police from stopping the one-woman demo and bringing her into the police station.
Less than two weeks earlier, PETA campaigners protesting "animal prison" zoos in Dubai were also prevented from demonstrating by police who said they were not authorized to do so. Ashley Fruno was there as well, and said, "We're trying to convey the message that animals in the zoos are suffering and we want to educate the people of Dubai that what's happening in the zoo is unacceptable."
The campaigners say that animals in the zoo lack food, water, and space to move around. AFP reports that Fruno called the zoo "a black eye on the face of a progressive and developed Dubai," adding that the zookeepers "are aware of the problems" and that "there's no enrichment in their cages ... yet they're not making any changes."
More about vegetarianism and PETA:
Lettuce Lady Takes on Meat in Kenya
Eat a Vegetarian Diet, Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by a Ton
PETA Ad Tells the Truth About Factory Farmed Turkey - But NBC Refuses to Run It
