Hillgrove Hullabaloo

The mass demo on 11 July against Hillgrove Farm, breeders of cats for vivisection, was supposed to start with a rally, followed by a protest at the farm. But Witney Carnival was on, and police didn’t want animal rights protesters mingling with 'real' people! So they put a 5 mile exclusion zone around Witney, under the Public Order Act ‘86. A change of plan - hundreds of protesters gathered at a service station near Oxford to march into the city centre towards the University, where the cats go. A small group got past the police into the city, and 2 larger groups held impromptu street parties. All met up at a major roundabout, and occupied it for some time, before being ushered back to the services. Legal advice suggests the exclusion zone was unlawful. Hillgrove will close down; it's only a matter of time.