Animal carcasses dumped

Hunt militants today dumped animal carcasses on Tony Blair's Brighton doorstep as the confrontation between the countryside movement and the Labour party turned increasingly ugly.

In a carefully planned operation activists drove the carcasses into the city centre and in daylight left them within walking distance of Labour's conference.

The militants made their move as about 3,000 angry protesters gathered to march on the conference to protest at the ban on hunting now being rushed through Parliament.

It was immediately condemned by the Countryside Alliance (CA), but many of the marchers backed the action. In one incident activists dumped the body of a horse close to Brighton station. Police hurried to cover it with a builders' tarpaulin.

The carcass of a cow and two calves were also dumped in the middle of Old Steine gardens, close to Brighton's Pavilion. Two men are being questioned in connection with the incident. A CA spokesman said: "There's a lot of angry people who have been treated very badly by this government and goaded by John Prescott. But we condemn it completely."

However, businesswoman Judith Skilbeck, who rides with the Bilsdale Hunt in North Yorkshire - one of the country's oldest - said: "Tony Blair wants to treat us like criminals so don't expect us to behave like decent people."

Jillie Barrow, 55, from Gloucestershire, said: "It's a crude protest, but it might bring home the truth of what happens in the country."

Many local people were stunned by the protest, which took place in full view of them. Bar worker Omid Taabadi, 32, said: "I saw the horse being dumped. It's horrible. To do this over foxhunting - what are they thinking?" Security has been stepped up and hundreds of police brought in to prevent a repeat of the ugly scenes in Parliament Square when some hunt supporters clashed with riot officers.

March organisers began asking the crowd to disperse 15 minutes before Mr Blair was due to begin his keynote speech. But instead packs of hunt dogs and hunting horns were used to create a cacophony outside.

Riot police drew truncheons and donned riot shields as the atmosphere outside the conference centre grew tense. Protesters threw eggs and blank shotgun cartridges and let off fire crackers as they were held back from the centre's steel fence.

Labour delegates and MPs watching from balconies were jeered and booed. At one stage riot officers beat protesters' hands and arms to force them off a road barrier.