A CAFE worker said she felt intimidated and insulted when vegan protesters stormed in.

The Brighton branch of animal activist group Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) emptied Greggs cafe in London Road, Brighton, of customers during a protest on Sunday.

But Shanon Fenlon, 22, a senior team member at the cafe, said she was horrified by the group’s behaviour.

She said: “I felt intimidated by them.

“It was so unnecessary what they were doing. I went up to them to talk to them and one of them just came running over and pushed in front of me and blocked me.

“I then said I was going to have to call the police because they aren’t allowed in here and one of the members said ‘go on then’.

“They were just being unnecessarily intimidating. It made me so angry.

The activists remained in Greggs cafe despite Ms Fenlon asking them to leave, delivering damning speeches about the meat industry.

Some were dressed in pig masks and held up signs saying “‘humane’ murder is a lie” and “it’s not food it’s violence”.

Others were shouting anti-meat slogans through a megaphone.

Ms Fenlon said: “I don’t understand why they were so aggressive when they didn’t even give us a chance to talk. They intimidated all of us for no reason.

“I have young staff members who felt so intimidated they had to go and wait in the back until they left. One of them actually has a doctor’s note for anxiety issues.

“She was having panic attacks out the back and she was crying.

“I am not a confrontational person so I stayed out the back too. I was on my own supervising and it was too much.

“I don’t think they realised how much they affected us and also some of us are trying to support the environment but they wouldn’t talk, they were so focused on being intimidating.”

Ms Fenlon said she was furious and felt it was necessary to speak out.

The protesters later went on to stage a “bloody” protest in New Road where they threw fake blood over one of the members.

A DxE spokeswoman said: “It is silly to suggest that non violent protesters advocating for animal rights are unnecessarily intimidating. We are there for the animals, not to make people feel comfortable as they consume products of animal suffering. If anyone would like to see what mistreatment looks like we suggest they go to their local slaughterhouse or watch Land Of Hope And Glory available on YouTube to see what happens to animals in this country.”