PETA may be blocked-- at least for now -- from erecting a chicken statue in the middle of the 16th Street Mall here in Denver, but the group managed to pull off a pretty gruesome stunt yesterday in New York City.

Around noon, nearly naked protesters covered themselves with fake blood and sprawled out on giant meat trays in the middle of Times Square.

According to PETA, the act was meant to liken meat-eating to cannibalism, drawing comparisons between all living creatures and showing omnivores that what they're really eating is a "corpse of an abused animal that did not want to die."

The group hoped those bloody corpses would encourage a few passersby in the tourist-heavy intersection to go vegan.

Nothing like a little shock and awe with your New York vaycay.

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