Dramatic footage shows a scuffle break out during a vegan protest at a pig slaughterhouse where one demonstrator was “dragged by his dreadlocks.”

The video was posted by animal rights group Liverpool Pig Save who aim to “make the whole world vegan” and shows a 21-year-old old activist attempting to stop a truck full of pigs.

But a worker at the slaughterhouse “grabs him by his dreads” and drags him out of the way, in scenes which police are now investigating.

Jake Jordan, the man featured in the video, says the protest was part of an agreement with the slaughterhouse that Liverpool Pig Save could stop trucks on their way in to give them “three minutes of compassion”.

In the video, he can be seen standing between a locked gate and a wagon delivering pigs to the C.S Morphet and Sons abattoir in Widnes, before being moved out of the way by a man in a blue boiler suit.

The group claim they regularly visit slaughterhouses across the North West, where they are given permission to “show the animals the first and last compassion they’ll receive in their lives” - by stroking them and giving them water - but that on this occasion they were not allowed the allotted time.

Jake said: “Save have an agreement to show the pigs their first and last compassion by comforting them and giving them water while they’re in the trucks.

“We weren’t given it, all we wanted was the chance to stroke the pigs and show them some love and compassion. You can tell when an animal is smiling and they’re happy inside and when we comfort them you can see that.

“We give them the first and last compassion they ever see in their lives and that’s all we wanted to do.”

A spokesperson for the slaughterhouse said their workers acted with Jake’s safety in mind, and claimed the group were in fact given enough time with the pigs.

They said: “The protestors had already been given a few minutes with the wagon as it came to the locked gate and it took a few minutes for the workers to get to the gate and unlock it.

“They had plenty of time to stroke the pigs.

“He stood in the way of the wagon, where the driver could not see him, and so we had to drag him out of the way for his own safety. He could have been seriously hurt.

“Protestors are more than welcome, provided they protest peacefully, but when they stop the driver from doing his job they jeopardise our business and their own safety.

“We did it for the protestor’s own safety, the driver could not see him. He could have driven off while he was still holding onto the wagon.

“It wasn’t fair on the other protestors as it was only one person who spoiled it for those who were protesting peacefully.”

Liverpool Pig Save is a regional branch of the international Save Movement.

A spokesperson for the group, Andrew Garner, who filmed the footage, said they “wanted to make the whole world vegan”.

He said: “Everyone who volunteers with Save is a vegan. We hope that in our generation everyone will be vegan.

“I honestly think that as the message spreads, in 40 or 50 years’ time nearly everyone worldwide will become vegan.

“(It is) for animal welfare reasons and environmental reasons, but once somebody sees what goes on in slaughterhouses they often convert to be vegan.”

Jake added: “Veganism is animal rights. If we want animal rights the same way we have civil rights and women’s rights and gay rights then everyone should go vegan”.

Merseyside Police said they received reports of an assault at the address.

A spokesman for the force said: “Merseyside Police can confirm a report was received of an assault in Cronton on Monday, August 7.

“A report was received at around 1.10pm stating a man had been pulled by the hair by another man at about 10am on Alder Lane.

“Enquiries into this matter are ongoing.”