Hunting protesters cause chaos at conference

A PRO-HUNTING campaigner and two other demonstrators were in police custody last night after they heckled British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s keynote address to his party as protests erupted inside and outside the Labour conference.

Mr Blair’s speech was twice interrupted from the conference floor in Brighton as 8,000 people and 1,000 working dogs marched outside in a noisy demonstration against the proposed hunting ban.

Four others were arrested as rotting animal carcasses were dumped across the city and rival groups clashed outside the conference, at the Brighton Centre.

Eggs were also hurled at the walls of the venue and senior Labour MP Gerald Kaufman, one of those calling for a hunting ban, was jostled by protesters.

Tom Leek, of Ledbury, Herefordshire, was led away from the convention after a small group inside the hall shouted insults at Mr Blair, weeks after fellow pro-hunt demonstrators rushed into the Commons chamber to highlight their cause.

Mr Leek, who was bundled into a waiting police car, claimed he was protesting against the “rushing through” of the anti-hunting bill and said: “It’s beholden on everybody to fight this kind of legislation.

“What’s next. If they are going to base laws on this kind of prejudice, how can we rest in our beds? They are trying to use the Parliament Act to force through legislation that’s based on prejudice and hate.

“My grandfather was a friend of Keir Hardie, and he helped set up the Labour party in south Wales. He’s buried 25 yards from my front door, and I can hear him spinning in his grave.”

Officers later confirmed a dead horse with a stake through the heart had been found close to a railway station and the corpses of a cow and two calves in the city centre.

The animals were left with Countryside Alliance placards, but the organisation last night distanced itself from the action and insisted the protest was the work of rogue members.

They were dumped minutes before the rally along the seafront, which saw thousands of people slowly march towards the Labour conference under a sea of banners and placards.

Marchers were lead by Banwen Miners Hunt and a line of more than a dozen bunny girls, who later staged a naked protest and rushed into the icy-cold sea to whoops of delight from campaigners. More than 10 people braved strong winds and ice-cold waters, with many covering their modesty only with placards.

Conference delegates looked on from balconies as the marchers came to a halt outside the venue and used hunting horns and whistles to create a deafening wall of noise. Later, riot police intervened as rival groups of pro-hunting campaigners and hunt saboteurs clashed in a narrow alley yards from the conference venue.

Police armed with shields and batons were seen pulling campaigners away from the area and forcing marchers back towards Brighton Pier, away from the conference area.

Police later described the march as peaceful and claimed the number of arrests was extremely low for a protest of around 8,000 people. They later said they had made six other arrests, taking the total to 13.