A controversial vegan activist has sparked a tense confrontation at Bondi Beach after removing a father and son's fishing rods, prompting the man to grab back his gear as his young child watched in shock.
Footage shared on social media shows activist Tash Peterson pulling a large fishing rod from a sand spike where it had been secured on the beach.
The confused owner quickly grabbed the rod back while his young son looked on.
'Animals deserve to live, fish feel pain, and they want to live,' Peterson told the man.
Initially, the fisherman avoided confrontation and walked away, but Peterson continued to lecture him about fishing in front of his child.
'Your child is compassionate. He was clearly distressed by what just happened. Your child has a heart, stop teaching him to abuse and murder animals,' she continued.
The activist then pulled a second fishing rod from the sand, prompting the man to grab it back and tell her to leave him alone.
'Imagine what it feels like to have a hook in your mouth and suffocate to death. Put these away now. This should be illegal. Put them away now,' she said.
Vegan activist Tash Peterson sparked a heated scene at Bondi Beach after pulling a father’s fishing rods from the sand
Peterson confronted a fisherman in front of his child, removing his fishing rods and lecturing him about animal cruelty
'Destroy this torture equipment,' Peterson continued.
The incident quickly drew backlash online, with Facebook users accusing Peterson of hypocrisy for touching another person's belongings after previously complaining about similar behaviour directed at her during protests.
'What gives you the right to touch their property?' one wrote.
'So she can take off with someone's fishing rod, but it's assault when someone tries to take her loudspeaker?' another added.
'Yet someone grabs your sign in public, and you ask them not to touch your property. The math ain't mathing. Make it make sense,' a third user wrote.
Peterson has previously lashed out at people who attempted to disrupt her protests by trying to take her megaphone or placards.
She said her actions were intended to prevent harm.
'If someone stepped in to stop a person shooting dogs, would the outrage be about the intervention, or about the dogs being killed,' she said.
Despite the criticism, some Australians praised her actions online.
The man grabbed his fishing rods back - before Patterson told him to put them away
'You're just amazing. It's so hard to operate in a world where you care so deeply while nobody else gives a s***,' one supporter wrote.
A second said: 'As a vegan of seven years I can tell you now, life for us is not easy. Yet we're the ones getting beaten up for doing the right thing.
'Seriously, folks, there's something very wrong with the great majority of people out there. They're sleepwalking.'
Another added: 'Fishing for fun is weird.'
Peterson has frequently made headlines for her confrontational animal rights demonstrations, including a 2023 protest inside a KFC restaurant where she poured red paint on the floor and claimed the chain and non-vegan customers had 'blood on their hands'.
