Two hundred demonstrators protested peacefully against a controversial monkey farm yesterday.
Police were out in force at Shamrock (GB) Ltd, at Small Dole, near Henfield, but made no arrests. This contrasted with a demonstration on January 30, when ten protesters and a Press photographer were arrested and a man was taken to hospital with a broken hip after scuffles broke out.
Yesterday, a few members of the crowd, two of whom were dressed as monkeys, heckled officers who sealed off the lane to the farm. Campaigners are calling for the closure of Shamrock Farm, which is a holding centre for monkeys imported from Asia for European laboratories.
Toni Vernelli, of Save The Shamrock Monkeys, said: "Every monkey imprisoned at Shamrock is a sensitive, intelligent and gentle being who can feel pain, fear, loneliness and love. We will not abandon them. We will close Shamrock and free them from their misery."
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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