Minnesota Timberwolves protests explained: What do we know so far? | NBA Playoffs 2022
Since April 13, three of the Minnesota Timberwolves' last five match-ups (one play-in game and four playoff games) have seen some form of interruption during the game, sometimes resulting in a stoppage.
On April 13, during the Western Conference play-in game between the seventh-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves and the eighth-seeded LA Clippers, a spectator came onto the court and tried to glue herself to the floor.
The second such incident took place on the 16th, during Game 2 of the Memphis-Minnesota series. As the second half was about to end, a spectator was seen throwing flyers on the court, and had soon tied herself to the basket stanchion with a chain.
She chained herself to the basket stanchion https://t.co/fAbi6uREdR
The final such incident took place on Saturday, during Game 4 of the Memphis-Minnesota series. About a minute into the third quarter, a spectator jumped out of the second row on the sidelines and burst onto the court as she was tackled by security.
watch the second row, the security guard was putting in detective work https://t.co/09fFb0Zvrd
In each instance, security escorted all the women from the premises shortly after these incidents occurred.
Why are the protests taking place and how are the Minnesota Timberwolves involved?
All the women who have interrupted games have been protestors/activists who were on the court to protest against animal cruelty at Rembrandt Enterprises. The protestors are associated with Direct Action Everywhere, an animal rights group and were found to be Alicia Santurio, Zoe Rosenberg and Sasha Zemmel. DxE has released a press statement for each incident.
Rembrandt Enterprises is a factory egg farm located about 15 miles north of Storm Lake, Iowa. The factory is owned by Glen Taylor, who is currently in the process of selling the Minnesota Timberwolves to businessman Marc Lore and former baseball player Alex Rodriguez. He will cede his current majority ownership in 2023.
Owing to an avian influenza outbreak at Rembrandt, the facility decided to depopulate the entire flock (5.3 million) of chickens. It did so using a method known as VSD+ in which ventilation in the sheds is completely shut off and temperatures are raised, as described by PETA.
Following the outbreak, as reported by Storm Lake Times Pilot, Rembrandt also laid off 200 employees.
An investigation carried out by DxE shows a video of birds who survived VSD+. Some were still in their cages and some were buried alive. As repeatedly stated by Direct Action Everywhere, the protests aim to get Glen Taylor to step down as the owner and return bailout money issued to Rembrandt.