A man has gone viral on social media after he was filmed holding a box of KFC and tucking in to a drumstick, metres away from vegan activists.

A man has been both praised and slammed after he was caught on camera tucking in to a box of KFC just metres from a confronting vegan protest.

Footage of the unidentified Sydney man, uploaded to the social media app TikTok, has already gone viral, garnering close to 300,000 likes.

The video, captioned “Meat eating protest in Sydney gets a hungry visitor”, was shot just outside Sydney’s Town Hall — one of the busiest areas of the CBD.

In the quick clip, the person starts off filming the vegan protesters before panning across to the man chewing a chicken drumstick, with a big box of KFC in his hand and a cheeky smile on his face.

Most people walking past the man laugh at him and then look back at the protesters.

Vegan group Anonymous for the Voiceless, which is well-known for its confronting public activism, is behind the protest.

The group has members in dozens of countries around the world and is best known for its “Cube of Truth” protests.

The protest typically involves members standing in a square wearing V For Vendetta masks or blindfolds and holding screens showing pictures or footage of animals being killed for the meat industry.

The group describes it as a “peaceful static demonstration akin to an art performance”.

“This demonstration operates in a structured manner that triggers curiosity and interest from the public; we attempt to lead bystanders to a vegan conclusion through a combination of local standard-practice animal exploitation footage and conversations with a value-based sales approach,” the group claims.

Opinions were split on the man’s KFC protest with some praising him for the peculiar stunt while others claimed he was mocking the protesters.

“Why do people think it’s cool to lack empathy for other lives and then make fun of people that actually care? I’m genuinely curious,” one commenter said.

“Very childish. He’s peacefully eating chicken, and whether you agree with him or not, they should be respectful,” another bit back.

“That’ll show ‘em. Bet they’ve never seen someone eat chicken before,” a third joked.

The Aussie version of Anonymous for the Voiceless has been in hot water before.

In September, a petition garnered hundreds of signatures after the group organised a “Cube of Truth” in Brisbane.

The petition called on Brisbane City Council to reverse its ban that had stopped the group from showing graphic images of animals being slaughtered.

“Everything we show is Australian footage, it’s recent footage and it all adheres to animal welfare standards in Australia,” Anonymous for the Voiceless spokeswoman Lisa Jane told Quest Newspapers.

“If people are concerned about the images we don’t need to stop the images, we need to stop the violence, to stop what we’re doing to animals.

“What’s most concerning is they’re trying to veto what the public can and can’t see. They’re saying they know what’s best for people.”