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Police move on animal lab demo

From the archive, first published Thursday 8th Dec 2005.

Police moved on animal rights protestors targeting a university Christmas party at an Oxford city centre pub.

The campaigners gathered outside the Wheatsheaf pub off the High Street on Tuesday as Oxford University's department of experimental psychology held its Christmas bash.

Four protestors from the animal rights group Speak were allowed to continue the demonstration at an alleyway leading to the pub.

A police spokesman said the demonstration, which concluded a day of protests staged throughout the city, went off peacefully.

Sixteen officers had been drafted in to ensure the protest went without incident, under Operation Rumble.

She said: "A number of protestors were asked to move on under section 14 of the Public Order Act at 4.30pm. Four people were allowed to stay until 9pm, but the demonstration was over by 7.30pm."

The landlord of the pub, who asked not to be named, said he had received around a dozen threatening or obscene phonecalls during the day.

He did not give details about the nature of them but said they were not pleasant.

He said: "I had to take the phone off the hook - it was intimidation. The animal rights protestors were at the top of the alley, challenging me to come outside."

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