VEGAN activists stormed into a Starbucks cafe to demand the chain stops using dairy products.

Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) Brighton campaigners disrupted the cafe in Jubilee Street, Brighton, on Sunday.

They waved banners with messages such as “Watch Dairy Is Scary on YouTube” and “you are not a baby cow”.

Staff called police as a safety precaution while customers and passers-by outside looked on curiously.

A spokesman for the activists said they wanted to “expose the hard realities of the dairy industry”.

Another activist said: “Dairy cows are continuously artificially and forcibly impregnated.

"Every year they go through over nine months of pregnancy, they suffer through childbirth and then have their babies stolen.

“This happens for profit.

The Argus:

“This happens so you can have milk in your coffee and cheese in your sandwiches. These exhausted and abused dairy cows are typically slaughtered at just five years old, a fraction of their natural lifespan.”

Another said: “Nothing is sacred to the dairy industry, not motherhood, not babies, not pregnancy, not anything.

“The British cattle veterinary association found that roughly 150,000 pregnant dairy cows are slaughtered every year.”

The group then left the cafe and marched to protest outside Brighton Sausage Company in Gloucester Road.

Paul Gilks, owner of the shop, said: “The protesters blocked the front door and they were there for about 20 minutes.

“They were not threatening.

“After hearing that they had rallied outside other shops in Brighton I expected them to come to mine eventually.

“I live in Brighton. I think it’s a liberal place and you are free to be what you want.

“I don’t have a problem with people choosing veganism.

“But we can’t agree on everything, so I think we should have more dialogue and exchange views to have more understanding.”

Starbucks has been contacted for a comment.