Animal rights activist Priya Sawhney hit the headlines after she recently disrupted an on-stage talk in Las Vegas, NV, by Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.
The 30-year-old, according to the Associated Press, rushed on stage and yelled about chicken farms. Bezos was attending Amazon’s re: Mars conference at the Aria Resort, said the report, adding, Bezos was explaining Amazon plans to send satellites into space when Sawhney appeared on stage.
“I have been inside of Amazon’s chicken farms, where animals are criminally abused,” Bloomberg quoted Sawhney as saying. “Jeff, please, you’re the richest man on the planet. You can help the animals.”
Sawhney is due in court July 15 on false identification and burglary charges. In Nevada, burglary relates to entering a building with the intent to commit a felony.
Sawhney of Berkeley, Calif., was protesting conditions at a California poultry farm that supplies Amazon, Direct Action Everywhere spokesman Matt Johnson said in a statement.
Sawhney is an activist with Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), an animal advocacy group whose mission is “train and develop ordinary citizens to become extraordinary advocates for animals — exposing cruelty, rescuing victims, and pushing institutional change like a complete ban on fur.”
The statement from the animal rights group stated that Sawhney jumped on stage in an attempt to offer Bezos a flower and ask him to speak out against what DxE says is “animal cruelty at an Amazon chicken supplier, as well as the felony prosecution of whistleblowers exposing animal abuse at that supplier.” It added that Amazon has ignored numerous DxE efforts for a conversation on these matters.
Sawhney, who never got close to Bezos, was ushered off stage and arrested and now authorities, said AP, have filed felony charges against her. She was due before a judge on “false identification and burglary counts.”