In a change to the law, the U.K. Parliament has amended the ‘Public Order Act’ to categorize animal-testing facilities, including universities and laboratories, as ‘key infrastructure’, alongside airports, power stations and motorways. Police will have stronger powers to stop protests. Anyone breaching the new ban may now face prison or an unlimited fine. This means ‘Camp Beagle’ demonstrators holding up placards outside a center near Huntingdon that breeds dogs for laboratory testing could be prosecuted.
THE INDEPENDENT: Campaigners are accusing the British government of a draconian crackdown by taking away the fundamental right to protest peacefully after it made non-violent demonstrations at animal-testing facilities a criminal offence. Advocates for free speech and animal rights warned the move by home secretary Shabana Mahmood set a dangerous precedent towards clamping down on basic freedoms.
And activists staging round-the-clock vigils at a Cambridgeshire site breeding beagles for laboratory tests vowed to risk arrest to continue protesting… Members of Camp Beagle have maintained a 24-hour-a-day presence outside the MBR Acres beagle breeding facility near Huntingdon since June 2021 to draw attention to animal testing…
In a change to the law that was not part of a Bill before Parliament, Labour has amended the Public Order Act to categorise animal-testing facilities, including universities and laboratories, as “key infrastructure”, alongside airports, power stations and motorways.
Police will have stronger powers to stop protests, with penalties of up to a year in jail or an unlimited fine. It means “Camp Beagle” demonstrators holding up placards outside a centre near Huntingdon that breeds dogs for laboratory testing could be prosecuted. Anyone breaching the new ban may now face prison or an unlimited fine.
Cruelty Free International, which campaigns to end animal testing, branded the move “illiberal, draconian, unnecessary and almost certainly unlawful” and called on the Lords to reject it. “This measure is an unjustified attack on democratic rights, and risks setting a dangerous precedent towards an ever-growing restriction of peaceful protest,” a spokesman said.
John Curtin, an organiser at Camp Beagle, told The Independent he and fellow members were prepared to be arrested. “I’m not going to change my my actions one little bit, and we’ll just wait for the police to come along,” he said. “They’re changing the law because we operate legally and peacefully.
“We’ve said the camp’s not going until this place is shut down. It’s business as usual. This is a disgusting act by the Labour Party who promised to get rid of animal testing. They’ll never live this down”… “Individuals have the right to oppose and speak out against industries such as life sciences without the fear of prison time”…
Four defendants who broke into MBR Acres and took 18 beagle puppies were unanimously acquitted of burglary on Monday at Cambridge Crown Court. A jury cleared Louisa Hillwood, Thomas Cusick, Kat Chan and Alan Guthrie after a seven-day trial in what campaigners dubbed a landmark case…
Rob Pownall, founder of the Protect the Wild campaign organisation, said: “Today is a dark day for democracy. This amendment stretches the definition of ‘key national infrastructure’ beyond recognition and does so for one reason only: to shield a controversial industry from scrutiny.
“Public opposition to animal testing is substantial, and peaceful protest has a long and legitimate history in driving ethical and scientific progress. “This effectively removes people’s right to express moral, scientific, or ethical objections without fear of criminalisation”. JANE DALTON
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