Animal rights group protests outside town hall
10 August 2006
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| SHAC protestors outside Hitchin Town Hall |
PROTESTERS gathered outside a town hall yesterday (Wednesday) to complain about animal testing in laboratories.
About 10 people from the group SHAC - Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty - assembled outside Hitchin Town Hall in Brand Street at about 2.30pm to voice their concerns about the treatment of animals at Huntingdon Life Sciences.
Their protests were aimed at a company which is believed to have links with Huntingdon and is situated in the office block across from the town hall. The company was targeted several years ago in a similar demonstration.
The protest in Hitchin was taking place simultaneously with others by the group across the country.
Police were despatched to keep an eye on the demonstration and the events were witnessed by town centre workers.
One, who did not want to be named, said: "They were not handing out leaflets or forcing them into people's hands.
"They were standing quite still and allowing people to approach them if they wanted to. They were quite peaceful about it."
A spokesman for Hertfordshire Police said they were aware of the planned protest and had liaised with the group before it took place.
She said: "There were some people in Hitchin town centre. We arrived at about 1.30pm and they arrived an hour later and the protests were peaceful.
"It was a day of planned demonstrations across the country by the group SHAC and the police where there to deal with any kind of disorder or issues but there were no incidents of note.
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