Angry protest outside Parliament as MPs begin debate on fox-hunting

HUNDREDS of hunt supporters and animal welfare groups in London last night staged a noisy demonstration outside Parliament as MPs resumed their impassioned debate on fox-hunting.

Some protesters centred their anger on an effigy of Tony Blair and set light to it in the middle of Parliament Square. A number of other pro-hunters fed the fire with newspapers before police moved the crowds away.

Police later said there were six arrests in total.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Trotter said: “I’m thoroughly disappointed by totally unreasonable actions of a significant number of protesters gathered in Parliament Square today for this demonstration, and also saddened that they felt the need to behave in such a manner.”

Two lines of mounted police were forced to hold back the mainly pro-hunting protest from the gates of Parliament as scuffles broke out in Parliament Square.

The Government’s Hunting Bill, which proposes to outlaw stag hunting and hare coursing while allowing foxhunting with hounds to continue under licence, was receiving its Second Reading in the Commons as the protest was taking place outside.

Protesters in Parliament Square tried to break through police lines and join other marchers who had arrived in the area.

A number of officers fell to the ground and others had their helmets knocked off but they managed to keep the two sides apart.

The protest was set to be swelled by around 1,500 marchers coming from south of the River Thames, bringing the total number of pro-hunt supporters to more than 2,000.

Earlier British Prime Minister Tony Blair had briefed the Commons on the recent European Union summit as the protest grew in number.

Demonstrators had focused their attention on the gates of Parliament used by Mr Blair to enter and leave the Commons and were aiming their horn-blowers directly at the Parliament building.

As the protest became more angry, a police van and police horses blocked the main entrance to the Commons. Protesters climbed traffic lights and appeared to let off fireworks while MPs began debating the Hunting Bill a few hundred yards away in the Commons chamber.

As a police helicopter thundered overhead, many of the demonstrators carried flaming torches and sounded klaxons and blew horns to make their point.

Police on horses rode into the square to try to keep two large groups of demonstrators apart.

There were further ugly scenes as two sets of pro-hunters tried to meet up at the gates of Parliament but the combination of parked police vans kept the crowds apart.

One pro-hunter, Vivien de Haan, 41, from Broomfield, near Ludlow, Shropshire, had brought her three children, twin girls Frances and Hannah, both 14, and son Hugo, 10, to show their anger.

Mrs de Haan said: “I’m here to defend all forms of hunting. We think it’s the best form of pest control and no way is it cruel.”