INTERVIEW WITH SINDRE, LOCKED UP INDEFINITELY FOR ACTIONS AGAINST A MINK FARMER.

We got the chance to speak to Sindre, a Swedish animal liberation activist, locked up in prison indefinitely. (Check out our website for more information, about Sindres case, and how to write to him)

  • Sindre, could you to tell us something about yourself, a brief background?
    I am 22 years old and come from a small Swedish town. Thanks to my parents being lacto ovo vegetarians, I was born into vegetarianism, with a passion for animal rights and when I got older veganism and the fight for animal liberation came naturally. I have now been vegan for about six years. In several ways I have been active for the animals through both direct actions, as well as above ground activism and demonstrations within the organisation Djurfront. I love animals, books, black metal and video games.
  • Anything you want to tell us about your trial? Why you are in prison, and how long you been there, will be there?
    After threatening a mink farmer, I was charged with unlawful threats and attempted assault and summoned to a trial as well as talks with the correctional service to make an evaluation regarding the appropriate punishment. They considered that I needed to perform a psychiatric examination, which indicated a serious mental disorder. An opinion I do not share.
    Then I was sentenced to forensic psychiatric care by the court, which denied my lawyer’s request for a new examination, and I was unexpectedly detained in the middle of the work week, which complicated everything enormously. No reason for the detention other than that there was a risk of new crimes was given. I was detained for three months before I ended up in the psychiatric hospital, in total I have been detained for about nine months now. It is an indefinite period, so unfortunately I have no idea how long I will have to be locked up.
  • How are you doing at the moment?
    I’m fine under the circumstances, but it’s terrible to live trapped with people you don’t know, with staff and rules, to lack self-determination over your everyday life.
  • Anything you want to tell us about the conditions in prison? What does a day look like for you?
    A day usually looks like this. I wake up at 8:00 for breakfast which lasts until 08:30, and after that no food is served, so it’s important that I wake up. Then I take care of my hygiene, shower and brush my teeth. After that, it is usually time to go to the activity center where various activities such as sports, crafts and the like are offered. After that, I usually take a walk on the walking area, which is a footpath outside the rest yards where you can have the privilege of walking without staff during certain times. After that, it’s usually bedtime around 9:00 PM after supper at 5:30 PM. I also read a lot of books during the days when I’m not walking or at the activity center. This is what a day looks like.
  • We heard that you have been permitted to leave the prison, sleep at home sometimes. How does it feel?
    It feels wonderful to come home and see my family and the animal family members who live with us. A moment of freedom.
  • Have you received any support from outside the prison, and what does that mean for you?
    I have received support from my wonderful family and from my wonderful comrades who sent letters already in custody and showed that I was not alone. Since then, my family has visited me regularly and brought things that I need. My comrades have organized so that I received support via letters from all over Europe. I couldn’t be more grateful for all the support.
  • Is there something you need that comrades can help you with?
    Since my finances are arranged through savings and sickness benefit it is probably only mail which would be nice if it continued to come as I feel much less alone in the fight for the liberation of animals.
  • What do you want to do when you are released?
    When I get released, I want to spend as much time as possible with my family and my best friend, a pit bull mix guy named Kenzo. And continue to fight for the animals in every way I can.
  • Are there anything you want to bring up that we forgot to ask?
    No, it’s fine. (I hope my answers were not too long)
    UNTIL ALL ARE FREE

EF! UK GATHERING SEEKING ANIMAL LIBERATION FOLK – EVENTS

WHAT: Eco-Anarchist gathering
WHEN: 25th – 29th July
WHERE: Crabbapple Co-op, Shropshire UK
MORE INFO: https://www.earthfirst.uk/

Received via EF!UK Animal Lib group:

“CALL TO ANIMAL LIBERATION FOLK TO POPULATE THE EARTH FIRST GATHERING 2024!

Hey folks!

We are a group of people wanting to see more animal lib related workshops and peeps at the Earth First! Gathering this year. EF! Gathering has been running for 30 years and the amount of animal lib influence shifts constantly. We would love to see more people who give a fuck about animals in the gathering, and organising talks, and mingling and plotting and teaching and learning!

The event is a five day gathering, every year at a different location, where eco-anarchists meet to socialise, to share new ideas and to plan and organise. It holds an everybody-is-crew ethos and folk pay as much or as little as they can afford towards the organising of the event. Nobody gets turned around for lack of funds, and food is included, you just need to make sure you bring a tent and comfy sleeping stuff!

Because we would like to see more animal lib stuff, we’ve been organising talks. If you think you’d like to give a rad talk about animal lib stuff (it could be history, it could be an open discussion, or strategy, or a new campaign, or a hands on workshop to learn how to do something!) please reach out to us. You can drop us an email at

EFUK_animallib(AT)proton(dot)me

It conveniently is at the same time as Vegan Camp Out so if you hate the capitalist ethos of that festival as much as we do, join us to be part of something, come and plot with us, let’s organise the next campaign! Get your lab group together, or your local animal rights group, and see you at EF! Gathering at the end of the month!

For more info you can check EF! Gathering’s website here: 

https://www.earthfirst.uk/ “

WILDFIRE VOLUME 4 COMING SOON AND LOOKING FOR SUBMISSIONS!

Received via email from @wildfire.zine

Hey shoplifting raccoons!

We’re super excited to let you all know that Wildfire Vol.4 is coming (yeah yeah yeah, we know, Vol.3 was in 2022, we’ve been busy!) and we’d love to get some submissions.

We have enough articles for it, but it would be great to get more visuals to populate the zine. We are looking for artists who would like to send us some radical drawings, or photographers who would like us to publish some of their photos from demos, riots or actions!

If you send photos, please understand that we will not publish uncensored faces. As for drawings or other forms of graphic art, anything from anarchist to trans to animal liberationist is welcome!


The deadline for submissions is the 10th of July, so please drop us an email if you would like to submit some visuals. Please also include in the email if you’d like your website or social handle or whatever to be used to credit the images.

All submissions to wildfiremagazine (at) riseup (dot) net

For anarchy, for animal liberation!

HUNTING ASSOCIATION CHALET BURNT DOWN.

12th May, Italy (delayed report)

Via Sansnom.

“ On the night of May 12/13, while the National Association of Alpine Hunters were celebrating their 95th annual gathering, one of their premises was set on fire a little over a hundred kilometers away. It happened in Casalecchio (Emilia-Romagna), where the chalet that housed their activities, including a dog unit, is now covered in soot and ashes. Damage is estimated at 25,000 euros.”

THE ALF LIBERATES TWELVE CHICKENS FROM A SCHOOL.

25th June, Denmark.

Received anonymously via email:

“We’ve all heard the story of backyard chickens, about how ethical it is, and how it can be a great way to teach children about animals. This is a lie! It’s always exploitation of the chickens, and they often murder them as well. A small school in Denmark was spreading the same lies, and they had decided that they thought it was appropriate to murder a rooster in front of the school children, and then feed him to them afterwards. The school had announced that this was something they were gonna start doing regularly – maybe one of the next victims would be one of the baby chicks they had enslaved. We will not stand for the normalization of speciesism, and we will definitely never stand for the normalization of murder.

Late at night, the day before the planned execution of the rooster, we cut open the fences and cages and took every last one of them with us. The rooster, 2 hens, and 9 baby chicks were all liberated that night, and brought to safe homes, where they will never have to be exploited or fear for their lives.

The school has said that they want to get more chickens who they will kill and feed to the children. To that we say; just you try. We will keep coming back and liberating them until you stop this insanity. And next time we will not leave the place as nice as we did the first time.

The liberation of these innocent individuals, was only possible because of the amazing humans who opened their homes and offered a safe life for the chickens. If you are able to take in liberated animals, ALWAYS reach out to activists you think can help get animals out of their prisons. The more safe homes we have, the more non-human animals we can save.”

FIVE HUNTING TOWERS SET ALIGHT

30th June, Baden-Württemberg Germany.

[photo unrelated, hunting tower arson in Italy Jan 2024]

According to local pro-hunt media, five separate hunting seats were attacked with wire in the south west of Germany during the afternoon of the 30th of June. One of the arsons was extinguished by a cyclist that found the tower on fire and used their water bottle to bring the flames down. Another one was reported by a dog walker, but the chair was completely engulfed in flames. The rest were reported by the local huntsman, who found them and extinguished the little fire there was left.

All the seats were burnt in open field, where there was no risk of spreading the fire into neighbouring trees, and the police suspects animal liberation activists to be behind the actions.

SABOTAGING HUNTS: JUNE ROUND UP – THE FRONTLINES 

[Image credit: @nottinghamhuntsabs] 

The supplementary badger cull begun at the start of the month and so has the mobilisation hunt saboteurs, anti-cull activists and members of the public who are checking setts for signs of being baited or tampered with. Some groups have posted evidence of healthy badger activity but things can change quickly. Derbyshire Against The Cull, for example, has been concerned about the presence of a known badger-killer who has been regularly spotted near a hotspot culling area, though hasn’t had the chance to go shooting due to the groups presence.  

Ambitious for an end to the badger cull, Northamptonshire Badger Group advised to ‘vote wisely’ in the general election, hoping that the main opposition party (who are predicted to form the next successive government) would abandon the murderous policy. However, the badger group later confirmed that the Labour party will allow pre-existing cull licenses to continue. Though its unsurprising to many, it is worth noting that legality has little bearing on the protection of wildlife and though there isn’t justice, there is us. 

Saboteurs from Nottingham, Sheffield, Lincoln and West Midlands foiled plans by the Dove Valley Mink Hounds to hunt the River Trent. As they did last month, on discovering the presence of saboteurs, the hunt resorted to walking back to the meet and were escorted back to the kennels. Despite the fact that Mink and Otter hound pacts are notoriously covert, they continue to be apprehended.  

The Cottesmore Hunt are continuing to have a hard time as Northants Hunt Saboteurs keeps up the pressure during an open day at the kennels and a fun ride. Both of these are recruiting drives to recruit new members and raise money. The presence of saboteurs and protesters, highlighting the brutal reality of hunting is bad for business as it puts off any new interest they may have and also discourages existing members as they may not want to be publicly seen to be supporting the murder of innocent wild animals. This is one tactic that has been applied consistently as part of a pressure campaign. Simultaneous action overtime, using different tactics, is a proven method to shutting down a hunt for good. Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs also held a protest against a fundraising event held by the Grove and Rufford Hunt.  

After freeing a severely injured corvid from a Larsen trap, Underground Badger Syndicate  sent a clear message to a gamekeeper by dealing with three high seats, three larsens, a ladder trap, multiple fens and a fox cage. In a social media post including a video of what they got up to, they stated ‘you destroy lives, we destroy your shoot’.

Herefordshire Hunt Saboteurs, who also dealt with two types of spring traps and poison hoppers, have a similar message; ‘direct action saves lives’. 

Any information about wildlife killing fundraisers, Mink/Otter hunts, the location of traps, tools and infrastructure used to kill and anything dodgy or suspicious relating to the interference or ill-treatment of wildlife should be reported to your local hunt sabotage group. Unsure of your local group? Contact the Hunt Saboteurs Association’s tip-off line at 07443148426 or via social media. The smallest bit of information could make the biggest different to an innocent life.

NO LIFE LIKE THE WILD

TAKE CONCRETE ACTION 2: PULP FICTION – CLIMATE CAMP & BLOCKADE AGAINST THE PULP INDUSTRY, STORA ENSO SWEDEN

Between June 15-19, around 300 activists from different parts of Europe and the Nordics gathered for a climate camp in Gävle, Sweden.

The camp was organized by the Take Concrete Action network, which previously organized a camp and blockade against the cement factory Cementa on Gotland in 2022. (Link: https://youtu.be/zROOiTOEafE)

At the camp in Gävle, folks from the radical movement came together with people from the broad environmental one, you could make contacts, there were opportunities for learning, and to mobilize future climate actions. One could contribute to the escalation needed in the climate struggle.

The camp had a schedule filled with interesting talks. It was five days with, among other things, anti-colonial perspectives, reports from anti-fascists, information on anti-repression. There was a good atmosphere in the camp, with vegan food, and action training. On Monday, June 15, it was time for mass action, when more than a hundred activists blocked two entrances to Stora Enso’s pulp factory in Gävle. Stora Enso is an international pulp company, which depletes forests around the world, which has fatal consequences for non-human animals, and minority groups, for example in both Sweden and Uruguay.

The day of action began on Sunday night, when the activists gathered and made their way to the action site and structured themselves into friend groups and finger formations. Of course, they were closely pursued by cops, who awkwardly stumbled around the forest in useless attempts to keep track of the activists. When the activists marched towards the industrial building, singing “Tout Le Monde Dèteste La Police”, there were police cars both in front and behind the demonstration train. Nevertheless, the demonstration reached its goal.

Arriving at Stora Enso, the activists split into two groups, one finger blocking the West Gate, and another finger blocking the East Entrance. At 07:00 the blockade began, after which it did not end until 10 hours later. At 17:00 the activists chose to end the blockade. Then they had caused trouble for Stora Enso’s operations all day, prevented transport from getting in and out of the area.

The blockade was also well attended by journalists and cops (from at least three different police regions). Of course, representatives from Stora Enso refused to publicly comment on the activists’ criticism of their environmentally destructive activities.

Overall, the camp was well organized and inspiring. Activists met, exchanged experiences and started new fruitful relationships. The action, the blockade against Stora Enso, was successful and showed what can be achieved when enough people gather and take direct action together. We can shut down what destroys us, and expose the crap companies. It will be exciting to see what the next climate camp with Take Concrete Action mobilizes resistance against.

WE SHUT SHIT DOWN

Take Concrete Actions website: https://www.takeconcreteaction.info/

AND THE FUR FARM RAID SEASON HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN! – JUNE DIRECT ACTION ROUND UP

In the month of June we have heavily focused on raising funds for the Susaron prisoners by selling t-shirts and tote bags. You’ll be happy to hear that the pre-orders have now finished and you won’t see us promoting it any longer! 

We still don’t know how much money we’ve managed to raise (we will only know once we post all the parcels and pay for the postage), but we are hoping to have made a decent amount to support them in prison!

We also celebrated our 8th anniversary as a collective. Who would’ve thought we’d still be kicking after eight years!

Lastly on the prisoner support corner, we wrote about Marius needing support in order to get gender affirming surgery in prison. You can still help today!

In the direct action corner it looks like Denmark was busy this month. It was also interesting to see the first fur farm raid of the season, where people opened every fox cage at a fur farm in USA.

By country, the number of reported direct actions in June are: 



DENMARK: 3

UK: 3
USA: 1
ARGENTINA: 1

As always, if you appreciate the work that we do and would like to support us, please send us some coins.

Paypal: [email protected]
Patreon: www.patreon.com/animalliberation

WRITE A LETTER TO SINDRE TODAY!

UPDATE 1st JULY:

Sindre has been granted longer leaves from detention and is sometimes sleeping at home now. He is still serving his sentence, which does not have a final date and psych hospital has the last word on when Sindre is done serving a sentence that without the mental hospital would’ve been a four month prison sentence. Please write a letter to Sindre today and send him love!

Sindre is an animal rights activist, 21 years old, from so-called Sweden. Sindre is a kind and respected comrade in the animal rights community, who has fought against animal abusers in various ways.

In October 2023, Sindre was sentenced to forensic psychiatric forced care. The verdict refers to prosecution for actions in 2021, against the former fur farmer Niklas Pettersson. Sindre denies the alleged crime. Sindre was also sentenced to pay SEK 10,000 in damages to Niklas. The sentence was appealed, but later in 2023 The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict. If Sindre had not been sentenced to forensic psychiatric care, his prison sentence would have been only four months.

Sindre was detained immediately after the trial, on the ninth of October, and has since been imprisoned without an end date. A horrible sentence!

Support Sindre!

Help him endure behind bars, let him know he’s not alone. Send letters to the following address:

Sindre Annasson Persson

Rudolf Jonassons väg 25B

24136 Eslöv

Sweden