March given the all-clear

From the The Argus, first published Saturday 30th Sep 2006.

AN ANIMAL rights protest march will be spared the heavy police presence seen at recent anti-war demonstrations.

Sussex Police confirmed yesterday that it was not treating the World Day For Incarcerated Animals rally as a cause for concern despite the presence of several known activists.

The march will parade through Brighton from Preston Park to the Palace Pier this afternoon.

A police spokeswoman said: "The organisers have been in communication with us from an early stage. We are satisfied with the route and that the march has been adequately planned."

Up to 200 animal rights campaigners are expected to take part in the protest. They want to raise awareness of animals kept in cruel cond-itions around the world.

Speakers including Keith Mann, who was imprisoned for breaking into a research laboratory, and John Curtain, a former Animal Liberation Front member, who will address the rally at Preston Park at 1pm before the march begins.

Organiser Sue Baumgardt, of Brighton Animal Action, said: "We want a peaceful but upbeat day. In this country as well as elsewhere animals suffer in cages every day. It needs to be stopped."

The campaigners will make their way along London Road and Grand Parade before turning up North Street.

They will march in silence to the clocktower, in memory of animals which have died in cruel conditions, then walk down West Street and along the seafront to the pier.

A small demonstration will be held at the pier against the Brighton Sealife Centre situated opposite. Animal Action has a con- tinuing campaign against the centre which it says keeps animals in unsuitable conditions.

Police were criticised for deploying "excessive" numbers at a Smash EDO anti-arms march a fortnight ago and at a peaceful protest against Israel's treatment of Lebanon and Palestine a month earlier.

The police spokeswoman said it had no option but to have a high presence at those two events because organisers had not told them how many protesters would be involved.

Police were also unhappy about the route the Smash EDO march had proposed.

The group refused to co-operate with the police and accused them of colluding with EDO MBM, the arms firm whose Brighton plant it wants shut down.

A large number of officers will be busy today policing Brighton and Hove Albion's match against Chesterfield at the Withdean Stadium.

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