Hundreds of students and Hindu leaders are expected to re-enact the death of Gangotri the cow at Parliament Square in Westminster tomorrow.
The cow was put down by a lethal injection from RSPCA officers at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Aldenham on December 13 last year.
Orange-robed monks will blow on sacred conch-shells as part of the protest against the RSPCA’s actions.
A procession will begin in the square, opposite the Houses of Parliament, and finish outside the headquarters of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), in Albert Embankment.
At that point protestors will conduct the mock killing of a replica cow while dressed as RSPCA officers.
Brent North MP Barry Gardiner, who has led protests in the House of Commons against the putting down of Gangotri, said: “The temple nursed Gangotri in a way no farmer could ever afford to do. The RSPCA seem to have missed the point that Gangotri was not being made to suffer.
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“On the contrary, she had survived so long precisely because of the quality of care she had received. Our society must be able to recognize that just as we do not allow the euthanising of human beings, Hindus do not accept the euthanasia of cows.”
Rickie Sehgal, a member of the Justice for Gangotri Taskforce and chairman of the Hindu Forum of Britain’s membership committee, said: “The RSPCA do not seem to be aware of the levels of resentment and anger in our community as a result of this despicable killing of Gangotri. We do really want some answers from them.”
Among the organisations due to join the protest will be representatives from the Hindu Forum of Britain, National Council of Hindu Temples and Hindu Council UK.
A British delegation will also pay its final respects to Gangotri tomorrow by scattering her ashes in the river Ganges in the ancient pilgrim city of Varanasi in India.
Gauri Dasa, president of Bhaktivedanta Manor, said: “Our travel to India is our final act of respect to Gangotri. We are agonized by her killing and British Hindus also wish to voice their concern on the same day. Their protest in London is an expression of this desire.”
In a letter to the Borehamwood & Elstree Times last week, the RSPCA stated its belief that Gangotri could not have recovered from injuries suffered during a mating incident with a bull.