Countryside protesters take over London
Monday September 23 2002
Billed as the largest civil protest in 150 years, rural residents poured into the capital with a clear message for Prime Minister Tony Blair.
'Blair, ban hunting and we will boot you out,' read placards held aloft by tweed-clad demonstrators as they marched through the streets and brought much of the city to a standstill.
"We are here to show Mr Blair that we won't go away, we won't be quiet. He is talking about changing our way of life and that's just not on," said John Gammell, a gamekeeper from Yorkshire.
Protesters marched along two separate routes before converging on Whitehall.
Hunting horns blared, whistles shrieked and bagpipes wailed as the demonstrators, joined by Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, footballer turned actor Vinnie Jones and Earl Spencer, the brother of the late Princess Diana, slowly made their way past Downing Street.
Protesters, some young enough to be carried on shoulders, also waved cardboard cutouts of foxes.
- Stephen Robinson in London
