Protester chains herself to basket during Game 1
Play was interrupted during Game 1 of the first-round NBA playoff series between the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday after a fan who chained herself to the basket as part of a protest.
The fan appeared during a stoppage in play in the second quarter with yellow chains. She tried to secure herself to the stanchion after throwing flyers on the floor. She wore a T-shirt that read: “Glen Taylor Roasts Animals Alive.”
Security unchained the woman and five people carried her out of the main arena to the cheers of fans inside Fedexforum. She was then arrested and later charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.
The shirt was the same one that a protester wore during Tuesday’s play-in game between the Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers in Minneapolis. The woman in that protest tried to glue her hand to the court before security removed her.
According to a press release, Direct Action Everywhere, a grassroots animal rights network, claimed responsibility for Saturday’s protest. The release named Zoe Rosenberg as the woman who chained herself to the basket.
The release states that the two protests were in response to an investigation into a “recent mass killing of 5.3 million chickens following an outbreak of “highly pathogenic avian influenza.” It occurred at Rembrandt Enterprises, an Iowa factory egg farm owned by Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor.
Per a statement from the Grizzlies, the protester Saturday was related to the previous protest. She was tended to by security in the hallway within the arena and had the chain still loosely around her neck.