Friday night at a disused office building in central Newcastle, and two dozen men and women (plus one slightly shabby-looking pet dog) are busy fomenting what they like to call a 'people's revolution'.

They are finalising plans for a series of 'direct action' protests that will begin in London on Monday and end — they hope — with them forcing the Government to ban us all from eating meat, fish and dairy products.

Lovers of bacon butties, breakfast yoghurt, a milky coffee and juicy steaks might consider this to be dystopian science fiction, but the plan is deadly serious.

The group intends to bring parts of the capital to a halt over the next fortnight, shutting down a government ministry and disrupting the operations of major food companies along with London's biggest meat and fish markets.

In doing so they are prepared to be arrested.

The group is called Animal Rebellion and its quest to force Britons into compulsory veganism is about to become very high profile

One speaker says: 'It doesn't matter if you are the nice one who didn't want to get arrested, or you're the one at the front who did. Everyone who goes down there [to London] has to be aware of that, and make sure it's not going to be stopped by a few people getting pulled away [by the police].'

The group is called Animal Rebellion and its quest to force Britons into compulsory veganism is about to become very high profile. Over the coming days, the organisation is expected to bring thousands of supporters onto the streets, potentially causing serious disruption to the country's food supplies.

It's part of a wider wave of eco-protests organised by Extinction Rebellion, the group which presided over a botched attempt to use a fire engine to douse the Treasury building in Whitehall in fake blood on Thursday.

They are bringing a total of 20,000 activists to London next week, pledging to blockade London City Airport and shut roads around Westminster to protest against 'government inaction' on climate change.

Around 4,400 volunteers are willing to be arrested, with half said to be prepared to go to prison.

Animal Rebellion, an extremist faction of Extinction Rebellion which wants all animal farming and fishing banned, also plans to 'occupy' both Smithfield and Billingsgate markets — from which many of London's restaurants and takeaways source their meat and fish.

It's part of a wider wave of eco-protests organised by Extinction Rebellion, the group which presided over a botched attempt to use a fire engine to douse the Treasury building in Whitehall in fake blood on Thursday

A blockade is not only planned for the Whitehall headquarters of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) but also unspecified facilities belonging to two of the UK's largest meat firms, Cargill and JBS.

Other targets are said to include the City offices of Red Tractor (the farm and food assurance scheme that provides traceable, safe food) because it has certified British meat products as 'responsibly' sourced.

Policing the last 'Rebellion' in April cost the Metropolitan Police £16 million — more police resources than the Grenfell Tower disaster and London Bridge terror attack combined.

With this in mind, Friday's gathering in Newcastle, one of scores that have been held around the UK in recent weeks, saw Animal Rebellion protesters trained in how to cause maximum disruption to the police and public while avoiding the most serious criminal sanctions.

'For a blockade or an obstruction of the highway, the police can only hold you for 24 hours,' explained the main speaker, Jane Tredgett.

'They're going to put you away for a maximum of 24 hours, release you, and then it will go to court several months later. Usually, you'll get a couple of hundred pounds in fines and a smack on the wrist, and maybe a restraining order — if you've done it a few times — in terms of where you can go and where you can't go.'

Members of Extinction Rebellion spin-off group Animal Rebellion, which calls for a fully-plant-based food system, demonstrate in London

Sipping cups of tea (with soy or almond milk, of course), the vegan activists in Newcastle sat through a lengthy presentation by Tredgett on the 'urgent' need for government bans on animal farming and fishing.

It culminated in a 'minute's silence' for a beef cow called Hero, which hit the headlines last year after escaping a Polish abattoir but died after being recaptured.

They then held a series of role-play exercises to educate them in 'non-violent direct action.' They were advised to respond to any question from a police officer by refusing to comment. If there's an attempt at an arrest, they are advised to make their whole body go limp, which makes the job of the police officer much trickier.

'For a blockade or an obstruction of the highway, the police can only hold you for 24 hours,' explained the main speaker, Jane Tredgett

Tredgett, who says she has 'signed up to be arrestable', also urged supporters to make an online declaration that they were 'conscientious protectors' whose potential crimes were politically motivated.

Her thinking is that 'it shows you haven't got swept up in the moment and said, 'Oh, this looks like fun . . . I'll sit here and superglue myself as well', but that you've consciously thought that you want to do it'. She added helpfully: 'Some judges take that into account.'

One of the principal beliefs behind Animal Rebellion's campaign is that meat and fish products have a greater carbon footprint than vegetables. It's argued that about 7kg of carbon dioxide is emitted in the production of a day's food for someone on a meat-rich diet, whereas it's just 4kg for a vegetarian or 3kg for a vegan. Thus veganism is the only way to prevent environmental catastrophe.

This belief — vigorously disputed by the National Farmers' Union among others — has gained momentum with, for example, Cambridge University which removed beef and lamb from its menus in 2016.

Animal Rebellion protesters block traffic around Trafalgar Square taking part in an Animal Rights March in London

Animal Rebellion compares its efforts to ban meat, fish and dairy products (plus, one must assume, leather) to the 19th-century campaign against slavery. They say they are following in the footsteps of a long list of people including Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi.

'We declare rebellion against the Government and the animal agriculture and fishing industries,' they say. 'We are not simply here to disrupt . . . For the sake of all life, these industries must end.'

Not put off by this extravagant (and arguably alarmist) rhetoric, Animal Rebellion has the support of several wealthy animal charities around the world, including the celebrity-friendly Peta.

As we'll explain, it also counts among its founders several veteran campaigners with long-held connections to organisations such as the Green Party and RSPCA.

Like some key players in the so-called 'deep green' movement, many activists have an unusual view of traditional democracy — endorsing Extinction Rebellion's demand for a 'citizens' assembly' of people chosen by random lottery to replace Parliament in deciding environmental policy — and affection for Momentum-style far-Left politics.

One of Animal Rebellion's most oft-repeated slogans is: 'Kill capitalism, not animals'.

A poster by Animal Rebellion. One of Animal Rebellion's most oft-repeated slogans is: 'Kill capitalism, not animals'

Animal Rebellion was created in June when representatives of 20 animal rights groups — including The Vegan Society, Peta, and vegan charity Viva! — met to discuss a campaign of 'non-violent civil disobedience' that would force the Government to 'end the industries of animal agriculture and fishing and [lead] a transition to a sustainable and just plant-based food system'.

The meeting was not entirely cordial. Some centrist organisations who attended appear to have walked out half-way through in protest at what they saw as the organisers' extremism. Among them was the Animal Interfaith Alliance (AIA), a coalition of religious animal rights groups whose chief executive Barbara Gardner is also a trustee of the RSPCA.

'A representative from AIA went along to find out more about the movement. However, when it became clear that Animal Rebellion's tactics included civil disobedience, our representative left the meeting,' says Gardner.

Shortly afterwards, Animal Rebellion was incorporated at Companies House. Its two directors are Dan Kidby, a 27-year-old from Lancaster who describes himself as a 'pro-intersectional vegan anarchist', and Mark Westcombe, a 49-year-old lecturer at Lancaster University, who is listed as a Green Party local election candidate.

Although the Green Party policy does not (yet) include banning consumption of meat and fish, Westcombe is not the only senior member who appears to boast links to Animal Rebellion.

Media coverage of the group's first public protest, when it briefly closed London's Trafalgar Square in August, quoted its campaigns officer in Waltham Forest, Mark Dawes, saying: 'If we are to stop climate change and the damage to our environment, we need to move towards a plant-based diet.'

Other key figures in Animal Rebellion's campaign for compulsory veganism are Roger Hallam, a veteran political activist recently in custody over an alleged plot to use drones to disrupt Heathrow airport, and Tim Speers, a 33-year-old from Beckenham arrested a few days ago while filming himself spray-painting the slogan 'animal emergency = crime against humanity' on the walls of the Old Bailey.

Then there is Jane Tredgett, 52, who works in executive training and runs the group's 'direct action' training programme.

For almost 18 years, she has had a seat on the RSPCA's ruling council, an elected group of trustees in charge of the charity's policy and strategy as well as allocation of its £130 million-a-year budget. Until recently, she was the charity's vice-chair.

After the Mail asked questions about her links to Animal Rebellion, the RSPCA, which had for years denied claims that its ruling council has been dominated by extremists, announced her resignation. However, she was allowed to remain in place until the end of last month 'for continuity', sparking complaints from at least four fellow trustees.

Yet, even now, as she orchestrates a direct action campaign to ban us from eating meat and fish, Mrs Tredgett seems likely to continue to exert significant influence over the RSPCA. For according to ballot papers for a forthcoming election in which RSPCA members will select a new board of nine trustees, Mrs Tredgett is registered as an official 'supporter' of eight of the 11 candidates.

One of these is Jose Parry, a founding director of Humane Being, a non-profit group set up by Tredgett to campaign for animal rights (Parry resigned in March). In recent months, the organisation (which until last week had another former RSPCA trustee, Bob Baylis, as a director), has devoted almost all of its resources to campaigning for Animal Rebellion.

All of which brings us to Monday's protest at Smithfield.

Although originally conceived as a ten-day 'direct action' to shut London's biggest meat market for the duration, a decision was made on Thursday to scale back the protest to 24 hours amid fears that it might lead to violent clashes and cause economic hardship to mostly working-class stallholders.

Instead, Animal Rebellion urged supporters to target Defra, which they hope to close for at least two days on Tuesday and Wednesday, before focusing on meat giants Cargill and JBS (on Thursday) and Billingsgate fish market on Friday, when the capital's restaurants are attempting to source supplies for the weekend.

The decision to extend from Smithfield, rather than shutting it down for duration has, however, caused disquiet among Animal Rebellion's activists: many believing this is a betrayal of the group's values, and they have pledged to cause havoc at the meat market.

'Making sure there will be no disruption to the selling of dead bodies is not what I was expecting, and I'm definitely not in favour of supporting the idea,' was one posting on the group's social media page. 'You are utter scum working with animal abusers,' declared another.

Whether they get their wish, of course, remains to be seen. But this is only the beginning.

For Animal Rebellion is organised, and well-funded, and has strong links to some of the most powerful political organisations and charities in the land.

So as thousands of angry protesters once more descend on London, we should be in no doubt: these people are coming for our Sunday roast.