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    Courtesy of the Times - our nearest one is in the news.


    Violence broke out at Boxing Day meets as hunts said that they were “here to stay” despite calls for tougher rules. As Labour said that it would toughen the ban on hunting with hounds and consider prison sentences for those caught breaking the law, about 250,000 people met at hunts. In Elham, Kent, a saboteur’s eye socket was broken when more than 100 people turned out to oppose the East Kent with West Street Hunt. Saboteurs said that the victim had been thrown in front of a car, punched and kicked by at least two men. A man was arrested on suspicion of assault.

    In South Wales the Tredegar Farmers Hunt in Bassaleg, a suburb of Newport, faced signs saying that they had “blood on their hands”. As protesters and supporters clashed startled horses shied towards the crowds, threatening to trample onlookers. The atmosphere became “quite scary”, and police intervened as protesters tried to block the path of the horses. In East Sussex scuffles broke out as the Southdown and Eridge Hunt paraded through Lewes and supporters tried to grab protesters’ banners.

    There was less trouble in Stilton, Cambridgeshire, where the Fitzwilliam (Milton) Hunt had been granted a High Court injunction after it complained about trespass and made allegations of intimidation and harassment. Seven named protesters agreed not to trespass. In Bawtry, near Doncaster, the Grove and Rufford Hunt returned to the town a year after it was refused permission to meet in the centre when three people were convicted of hunting offences. Their convictions have been quashed. Nick Alexander, the hunt chairman, said: “Look at all this. Hunting is very much part of England — old England and modern England. And we’re here to stay.” Since 2004 the pursuit of foxes has been replaced by trail hunting, in which hounds follow a laid scent, but activists say that it can allow the hunting of foxes to continue if trails are laid near their dens. The maximum penalty is a fine, but Sue Hayman, the shadow environment secretary, said that Labour would consider prison terms.

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