Police lose control outside the dock...
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by Miles Brignall by Miles Brignall • A livestock haulier is to make a complaint to Essex Police after his trucks containing sheep were turned back by police in the face of a demonstration against exporting live animals from the UK. More than 1,000 animal rights protesters and local people blocked approaches to Brightlingsea on the Essex coast as lorries tried to make the first delivery to the freighter Caroline on Monday night. Mud and stones were thrown at cabs as protesters shouted abuse at the drivers. At one point a local man in a wheelchair pushed his way to the front of the protest to block the road. The assistant chief constable of Essex police, Geoffrey Markham, eventually sent the trucks back for what he described as safety reasons. Six people were arrested. A spokesman for the Dublinbased Live Sheep Trader Ireland, the company responsible for the exports, says his firm is unhappy at the way police handled the situation. "I don't care how much it costs or who should pay, the police are under
an obligation to let us go about our lawful business and keep the roads open." he says. A spokesman for the police says their main role is to prevent a breach of the peace.
Local people were bracing themselves for another attempt by the haulier to get the animals on board to catch the tide at lunch time Tuesday (17 January). The shipments are bound for Nieuport near Ostend in Belgium.