- Title: ENGLAND: PRO-COUNTRYSIDE PROTEST IN LONDON
- Date: 1st March 1998
- Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (MARCH 1, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/SV OF PEOPLE PREPARING TO MARCH/ BANNERS (2 SHOTS) 0.12 2. SV JACK RUSSELL TERRIER CLUB BANNER 0.15 3. SV PROTESTERS GATHERED 0.19 4. SV PROTESTERS GATHERED 0.23 5. MCU MAN WITH FUNNY HAT 0.29 6. SV PIPERS PLAYING/ HUNTSMEN (2 SHOTS) 0.35 7. SLV PEOPLE WITH COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE BANNER 0.39 8. MCU TONY HOLDSWORTH, HUNTSMAN SAYING HE DOES NOT WANT THE GOVERNMENT TO BAN HUNTING (ENGLISH) 0.46 9. MCU ALAN KENSITT WHO HUNTS WILD MINKS SAYING THE SIZE OF THE MARCH WILL SHOW WE ARE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH (ENGLISH) 0.52 10. SV RICHARD MEADE, EVENTER, LIGHTS UP TORCH TO START THE MARCH 1.00 11. SLV COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE BANNER/ MARCH STARTS/ BAND PLAYING (2 SHOTS) 1.16 12. SLV YOUNG FARMERS MARCHING 1.20 13. SLV MARCHERS WITH NFU (NATIONAL UNION OF FARMERS) BANNER 1.27 14. SLV MARCHERS WITH BANNERS 1.34 15. SV MICHAEL HESELTINE MARCHING 1.46 16. MCU MAN WITH A CHILD MARCHING 1.50 17. LV/SV OF THE MARCH AROUND TRAFALGAR SQUARE (5 SHOTS) 2.23 18. CU FEET 2.28 19. SLV/SV ANTI HUNTING PROTESTORS (2 SHOTS) 2.44 20. SC/LAS/LV OF MARCH/ NELSON'S COLUMN/ MARCH (5 SHOTS) 3.23 21. MCU PADDY ASHDOWN, LIBERAL DEMOCRAT LEADER, SAYING THIS IS NOT A MARCH PITTING COUNTRY AND CITY FOLK (ENGLISH) 3.37 22. MCU WILLY CARSON, JOCKEY, SAYING THE GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO STOP FOX HUNTING, THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH BEEF. WE ARE NOT AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT WE JUST WANT IT TO LISTEN AND GIVE US A LITTLE BIT OF HELP.. (ENGLISH) 4.11 23. MCU LORD DAVID STEELE (LIBERAL) SAYING ITS A WONDERFUL DAY THERE IS A GREAT SPIRIT HERE, PEOPLE HAVE COME FROM ALL OVER THE COUNTRY TO LONDON, MANY HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME, LONDONERS BENEFITTING ENORMOUSLY FROM THIS EVENT (ENGLISH) 4.20 24. LV/SV MARCHERS IN TRAFALGAR SQUARE (3 SHOTS) 4.35 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 16th March 1998 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- City:
- Country: United Kingdom
- Reuters ID: LVA3Q8270W5H4CY2YRAITN75CC7A
- Story Text: Tens of thousands of people have converged in central London for a huge pro-countryside protest which has left Britain's Labour government in disarray.
Around 85,000 pro-countryside demonstrators marched through central London on Sunday (March 1) to protest against government policies which they say are threatening their way of life.
The protesters, brought to the capital aboard 25 special trains, some 2,000 coaches and eight chartered aircraft, represent a powerful reminder to Labour of the power of the rural lobby.
Bearing banners such as "No to the destruction of the countryside" and "Leave country sports alone", they gathered in and near Trafalgar Square before marching off towards London's central Hyde Park.
The first marchers were due to set off at 9.30 a.m.
(0930 GMT) with the last expected to arrive in Hyde Park at around 4.30 p.m.(1630 GMT).
"This is about the preservation of a livelihood, not the protection of a pastime," said Paddy Ashdown, leader of the minoirty Liberal Democrat party.
"I hope this will present a powerful united voice about the threat to the rural way of life." The protesters' core issue, their passionate defence of foxhunting, puts them on the other side of the barricades to most Labour members of parliament.
Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour government is overwhelmingly anti-hunting but has indicated it will not supply parliamentary time to allow Labour backbencher Michael Foster's bill to ban the sport to become law, a compromise that is likely to leave both sides feeling betrayed.
The rural protest has grown into a powerful coalition which includes farmers complaining of a crisis in the beef industry, opponents of government plans to build more homes on greenfield sites, and other single-issue campaigners.
Labour has softened plans, opposed by country landowners, to ensure ramblers have a statutory "right to roam" across privately-owned open land.
Plans to build 4.4 million new homes in the countryside have also been scaled back in favour of redevelopment of derelict urban sites.
And beef farmers have been told they will not after all have to pay the 70-million-pound (115 million U.S.dollars) cost of new moves to keep herds free of mad cow disease.
The government has also promised to do more to stop rural schools closing and stressed that its long-term policies on health, education, welfare and transport will benefit country people.
Blair's team says it is hypocritical for the Conservatives to back the protest because they were to blame for the spread of mad cow disease and the current ban on exports of British beef.
Agriculture Minister Jack Cunningham is deeply unpopular among farmers for deciding last December to ban the sale of beef on the bone because of the risk of it spreading mad cow disease or BSE to those who eat it.
Cunningham contended that "vested interests" were behind the rally and said they had duped hundreds of thousands of "decent country folk" into taking part.
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