British Activists, Unfazed by Losing ‘McLibel’ Case, Distribute Leaflets

LONDON — Anti-McDonald’s activists, including two who lost a marathon defamation case against the hamburger giant, handed out leaflets Saturday in a mass distribution of the same allegations that prompted the libel suit.

“We will keep handing out this document and any other documents that tell the truth about McDonald’s,” said David Morris, giving stacks of leaflets to passersby on a busy north London shopping street.

Morris and co-defendant Helen Steel had lots of takers, after their “McLibel” fight generated enormous publicity.

The protesters had hoped to distribute pamphlets outside all 760 McDonald’s in Britain but said they found volunteers for just 500 locations. McDonald’s representatives said they suspected far fewer restaurants were targeted.

Although the leaflets handed out Saturday are an abbreviated version of the pamphlet that prompted McDonald’s to file the libel suit, the accusations are the same.

McDonald’s won’t say whether it will seek a court order preventing the two defendants from handing out the materials.

The Oak Brook, Ill.-based chain’s long-running battle with Morris, an unemployed postal worker, and Steel, a part-time bartender, climaxed Thursday.

After a 314-day trial, Judge Rodger Bell ruled that most of the statements in the original leaflets were defamatory and false, including claims that McDonald’s is responsible for Third World starvation, destroys rain forests and sells unhealthy food.

But the judge also ruled that several key allegations were true. He found McDonald’s responsible for cruelty to some animals used in its products and said the company exploits children in its advertising and pays workers poorly.