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A butcher is accused of assaulting a man during a vegan protest which heard shouts of ‘meat is murder’.

On Thursday a defence barrister for the Ballymena butcher claimed the demonstration may have been illegal because as an application was not made to the Parades Commission.

In March this year during a protest by ‘Direct Action Everywhere - Northern Ireland,’ individuals went inside butcher shops in Ballymena chanting “It’s not food, it’s violence”.

The group also protested outside the shops holding placards and recorded videos which were viewed tens of thousands of times on social media.

Ballymena butcher Peter McAtamney, 44, whose address was given as Greenvale Street in the town, is charged with unlawfully assaulting a male during the protests on March 25 this year.

At an earlier hearing in October, defence barrister Neil Moore said “vegans” mounted a campaign and “attended various butchers chanting that ‘Meat Is Murder’”.

Mr Moore said the protest was “all over social media” and he said there was footage on You Tube “which may be of assistance to the defence”.

Mr Moore previously entered a not guilty plea on behalf of his client who was not present in court in October nor on Thursday.

Mr Moore told Thursday’s Court his client’s solicitor had written to the Public Prosecution Service because a “vegan march and protest against butchers” had been held.

Mr Moore said the point that was made regarded whether it was an “illegal parade” and if it should have been the subject of an “11/1” application.

A prosecutor said the case against the butcher is to proceed.

Mr Moore said he believed prosecutors rely on video evidence but he said that was “not a full indication of the parade that took place”.

He said the “full parade” was on Facebook.

He said the social media footage was “interesting in terms of the general response of locals in the Ballymena area to the vegan march”.

Mr Moore said: “This is definitely going to be a contest” and the case was fixed by District Judge Peter King for a trial in January.

An earlier version of this article included for a short period of time a picture of McAtamney's Butchers in Ballymena. The butchers shop we pictured in Thomas Street Ballymena is not connected to the Ballymena butcher Peter McAtamney of Greenvale Street Ballymena who this article is about. We apologise to McAtamney's Butchers in Ballymena for our error.