Protester arrested at Petaluma chicken plant

An animal rights protester was arrested early Monday for blocking a driver with a truckload of live chickens making a delivery to Petaluma Poultry Processors.

Jonathan Frohnmayer, 32, of Berkeley, was booked into the Sonoma County Jail by Petaluma Police after a plant security guard arrested him for trespassing, said Police Lt. Tim Lyons. Frohnmayer had blocked the truck for 15 minutes around midnight at the plant at Cader Lane and Lakeville Highway.

Frohnmayer took part in a demonstration by the animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere. The group, which has held frequent Sunday protests at the plant for about two months, issued a press release alleging the truck “drove into a throng of activists,” who felt “intimidated” and “threatened.”

Lyons, however, said, “The truck didn’t drive into the protesters.”

Petaluma Poultry spokesman Brian Sobel insisted security guards have been “very, very patient” with the protesters.

While acknowledging the demonstrators’ right to peaceful protests, Sobel said the company intends to conduct business, “and we’re trying to do it as safely as possible.”