McDonald's customers scream in horror as protester throws mice into restaurant

31 October 2023 , 07:35

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McDonald's customers scream in horror as protester throws mice into restaurant

McDonald's customers were left screaming in shock after a pro-Palestine activist unleashed a horde of mice into a city restaurant.

Footage on social media captured the moment an apparent protester arrived at a Birmingham branch of the fast food chain before taking out a box filled with the vermin from his car boot. The vehicle can be seen with its number plate reading 'PAIISTN' parked at what is said to have been the Star City branch.

The unidentified person appearing to wear the colours of the Palestinian flag on his head is then seen entering the restaurant that is filled with customers before letting the mice lose onto the floor as those inside start screaming and jumping in shock. The video was captioned "enjoy your rat burgers".

• For all the latest developments on the conflict in Israel follow our live blog here.

The video shows the mice painted in various colours before the stunt (@amirroyal_1/TikTok)

Customers were horrified (@amirroyal_1/TikTok)

Earlier in the footage the mice were shown in separate boxes painted in green, black, white and red, representing the four colours of the Palestinian flag. The video ends calling on people to take part in a targeted boycott of a number of brands it says are involved in what it terms 'Israeli apartheid.'

In a statement to LBC a McDonald's spokesperson said: "We are aware of an incident in our Birmingham Star City restaurant this evening where a number of mice were released by a member of the public. Following the removal of the mice, the restaurant has been fully sanitised and our pest control partners have been called out to conduct a full inspection."

Five teenage girls arrested by armed police after 'home attacked with bricks'

The protestor has not been identified (@amirroyal_1/TikTok)

West Midlands Police said in a statement: "We're investigating after live rodents were thrown into a restaurant off Watson Road, Nechells, at around 5.30pm yesterday (30 October). We understand the distress this will have caused and it's not acceptable in any circumstances.

"This is currently being treated as a public nuisance offence and we've active lines of enquiries to identify, and then arrest, who was involved. Anyone with information is asked to contact us via Live Chat on our website, or by calling 101, and quote log 3847 of 30/10/23."

It comes as the Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll among Palestinians passed 8,300. The toll is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during the initial attack, also an unprecedented figure.

It is said to have happened at a branch in Birmingham. File image (Google)

And the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees told a UN emergency meeting "an immediate humanitarian ceasefire has become a matter of life and death for millions". Philippe Lazzarini warned that a further breakdown of civil order following the looting of the agency's warehouses by Palestinians searching for food and other aid "will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest UN agency in Gaza to continue operating".

William Walker