Cambridgeshire Police – a new attack on right to protest over animal cruelty – Legitimate protest supressed by new misuse of police powers
Four guardians from Camp Beagle, Europe’s longest running animal protest camp, have been issued Community Protection Notices (CPNs) by Cambridgeshire police in the latest effort to silence campaigners picketing vivisection puppy breeder, MBR Acres.
Three CPNs were issued on Friday 11th July with the fourth yet to be served as at time of publishing. The two-page notices allege unreasonable behaviour by the recipients, including the distraction of drivers entering the site and the use of audio equipment to amplify voices (i.e. use of a megaphone) despite these tactics being universally recognised as legitimate for protesters.
CPNs are legal instruments used to address anti-social behaviour that negatively impacts a community’s quality of life. They are issued to individuals over the age of 16, requiring them to cease certain behaviours. Breaching a CPN is a criminal offence, potentially leading to fines or prosecution.
The notices issued to the four individuals at Camp Beagle appears to be the first time a CPN is being used to suppress a political protest, and sets an alarming precedent.
CPNs are normally used to protect communities from disorderly and socially damaging behaviour – but in the case of Camp Beagle, the notice is effectively being issued on behalf of a commercial enterprise. MBR Acres breeds dogs for use in so-called laboratory testing. The 2,500 puppies bred annually at its Cambridgeshire site are sold across the UK and Europe and will die premature, often painful, deaths. Some will be ‘bled out’ on site.
Camp Beagle, a peaceful protest movement, was set up outside MBR’s Cambridge facility four years ago and has successfully mobilised public concern over the cruel and often violent practices at the breeding site. MBR is reported to have spent close to £4 million trying to evict the camp but lost its long running legal case in February of this year. The judgement upheld the basic right to protest.
Buoyed by the win, Camp Beagle set up a petition to ban the use of dogs in scientific research. The petition went on to secure over quarter of a million signatures and triggered a debate in parliament in April.
Ninety days after the parliamentary debate, MBR are again trying to interfere in the public’s right to protest, only on this occasion it appears Cambridgeshire police are acting as their enforcer and CPNs are their weapon of choice.
The mechanisms of CPNs are peculiar, some suggest deliberately so. Notices are issued simply on the opinion that somebody’s conduct has a detrimental effect on the quality of life. There is no requirement for the police to gather evidence, or even to speak to the CPN recipient, before issuing the notice.
Misuse of CPNs is well documented:
- a Kent family with autistic children were issued a CPN for slamming doors
- a 81-year-old lady was issued with a CPN by Stockport Council banning her from wearing a bikini in her garden
- a pensioner in Great Yarmouth was issued with a CPN for feeding birds in his garden.
On the weekend the CPNs were issued to the guardians of Camp Beagle, temperatures in Cambridgeshire were in the 30s. It was hot. As police busied themselves on behalf of MBR, administering the company’s power and highlighting its corporate reach, metres away hundreds of young beagles were trapped in metal cages, stacked in windowless metal sheds. They were left unattended from noon on Saturday until Sunday morning. There was a community that needed protecting this weekend – but it wasn’t MBR.
Opaque in nature and arbitrary by design, CPNs should alarm the public. Now, with their deliberate manipulation to restrict protests and contain pickets, that alarm just got louder.
Sul Nowroz is Staff Writer at Real Media
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