Monkey protesters arrested

Police intervened when campaigners broke through barriers and groups started running across fields towards Shamrock (GB) Ltd, at Small Dole, near Henfield.

About 500 people gathered outside the farm for the demonstration, which had been advertised nationally.

They want the farm, which exports monkeys to laboratories across Europe, closed.

After shouting and chanting, they moved onto the main road.

Some protesters accused the police of heavy-handed tactics.

Police spokesman Chris Oswick criticised organisers of the rally for not co-operating with the police.

A WAR is being fought in the heart of the Sussex countryside.

On one side is a small, committed core of animal rights extremists who will stop at nothing to shut down a farm which is a key player in the European vivisection industry.

On the other is a business which has been running since the Fifties, employs local people and operates within strict Government guidelines.

Shamrock (GB) Ltd, which sells monkeys to laboratories, has been the target of animal rights protesters since the mushrooming of the movement in the Seventies.

But in the past few months the bid to shut it down has reached new terrifying heights.

As the protests mount, so too has the level of intimidation against the farm's staff. They include

Hammer-wielding attackers smashing up the car of one of the farm's senior employees as she parked near her home this month.

A hearse being called to the home of an employee - the undertaker had been told he had died.

Thousands of pounds worth of damage being caused to an employee's home and car after paving slabs and paint were thrown through windows.

Numerous threatening phone calls and paint bomb and graffiti attacks on staff homes.

While Sussex Police acknowledge the majority of campaigners are well-behaved and law-abiding, a small band of hardcore activists are operating a campaign of terror from behind the scenes.

Supt Mark Streater was in overall charge of policing the national demonstration yesterday and also co-ordinated policing for the

millennium celebrations.

He said: "There is a very diverse representation that come along and want to air their views over what is a sensitive issue.

"But there is also a rump of very committed individuals who clearly feel so

passionately about it they are prepared to go that step further and carry out illegal activities.

"That's not just about being a public nuisance. It's a very real campaign of criminal harassment on the employees of Shamrock and their families.

And it doesn't stop there - taxi drivers who drive staff to work or suppliers are also being targeted.

"In essence these families are being terrorised and clearly this is part

of a campaign by some of the more extremist protesters.

"In one case it has got so extreme that young children of one of the employees won't sleep on their own.

"The hammer attack on the car is another indication of the level of violence they are prepared to use."

He is dismissive of comparisons between the Shamrock campaign and the live exports battle at Shoreham, which swallowed up millions of pounds in policing costs.

"Policing costs are being met by existing contingency funds. It's not a case of having to identify money," he said.

"We are very mindful that it's the intention of some of the organisers to use as many police resources as possible and we are sure we will be able to meet the policing needs.

"Shoreham was different because it wasn't budgeted for. There we had to keep going back to the Police Authority week after week to get more money."

Toni Vernelli, of Save the Shamrock Monkeys, said employees' addresses were printed in the group's newsletters and refused to condemn attacks on staff.

She said: "I don't shed a tear when I hear a Shamrock worker has had a personal violation because what happens to Shamrock monkeys is a personal violation every day.

"We wouldn't encourage anyone to break the law but I don't think people who work there should be exempt from protests outside their houses. They can't expect to go home and live a nice, peaceful life."

Shamrock's managing director said: "We are, obviously, very concerned that members of our staff have been personally targeted and the company is taking every precaution to ensure their continued safety.

"We are confident the police will bring the perpetrators of this recent spate of violent and cowardly attacks to justice in the very near future.

"Shamrock is fortunate in having a group of loyal and committed employees who are strongly behind all that the company stands for."Supt Streater is keen to stress the officers who turn out to police demonstrations such as yesterday's are not there as instruments of the farm's managers.

He said: "The police are not there to offer protection to Shamrock Farm. We are there to facilitate lawful protest and prevent criminal behaviour.

"It is a fact many officers hold strong views themselves about the rights and wrongs of animal experiments and it's not easy for them to get involved.

"But they are professional men and women who understand their role isn't there to support the work of Shamrock.

"Their job is to uphold the peace."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.