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MP
calls for curb on hunt ban protests
Pro-hunting campaigners could cause as much disruption as anarchists
and should be treated by the police in the same way, a senior
Labour MP said last week.
Labour MP Chris Mullin spoke out after reading an article in
the Field magazine that appeared to endorse the use of sabotage
tactics by those fighting the proposed ban on hunting. Mr Mullin,
a former minister and now chairman of the Commons Home Affairs
Committee, said he was sure most supporters of the Countryside
Alliance were law-abiding.
But he has written to David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, about
the article, which was written before a Countryside Alliance
march planned in London on Sunday Sept 22. The article quoted
a Countryside Action Network campaigner floating the idea that
protesters could block every bridge in London. It suggested
that another tactic might be to remove speed cameras from roads.
It added: "Suppose someone were to pull the plug out of
a reservoir in Wales and run Birmingham short of water; suppose
every motorway were blocked?"
Mr Mullin told BBC Radio 4's The World at One: "If any
of the anarchists who misbehaved on May Day were to start this
sort of threat, I think it would be taken seriously. I'm anxious
that the rule of law should apply as much to the so-called countryside
protesters as it does to anarchists."
Mr Mullin said the Countryside Alliance should be asked to dissociate
itself from these threats. Speaking on the same programme, Simon
Hart, director of the Campaign for Hunting at the Countryside
Alliance, said his organisation did not support illegal activity.
But Janet George, a spokesman for the Countryside Action Network
and former press officer for the Countryside Alliance, said
the alliance was being "a little too polite" in its
dealings with the Government. "I don't think they really
have any idea of how many people are involved and how angry
they are," she said.
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