On Saturday the 7th February Dorset Hunt saboteurs attended a meet of the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale Hunt who met at Sherborne Castle, home of Lord Digby.
From the start of the day the saboteurs were harassed by a large group of masked up hunt supporters who stole a hunting horn, broke their equipment and pushed and shoved them as well as threatening further violence. As the day wore on the size of the group of thugs increased to approx 30-40 and their behaviour deteriorated.
At around 3pm they used their quad bikes to block in the sab landrover before launching an unprovoked attack. They smashed the front, rear and drivers side windows, throttled the driver and smashed up equipment in the vehicle and placed a home made ‘stinger’ type device under the vehicles tyres in order to puncture them. The police were called and due to the severity of the attack they sent up a helicopter to try and track the culprits.
Lee Moon, spokesperson for the Hunt saboteurs Association stated: “Earlier this week Mark Doggrell, huntsman for the Blackmore, had a case against him dropped for riding down and seriously injuring a saboteur in August last year. This hunt now believe they are totally above the law and can assault and steal from saboteurs with impunity. Dorset police need to prove that they are impartially upholding the law and bring charges against these masked up thugs. The Countryside Alliance are currently obsessed with saboteurs wearing masks, which we have always done and will continue to do so due to the very real threat of violent reprisals by hunt support. We would ask the Alliance to explain why so many of their supporters are regularly masking up and committing violent unlawful acts in the countryside?”
Video of Mark Doggrell riding down a saboteur can be seen here
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http://www.huntsabs.org.uk/index.php/news/press-releases/557-more-violence-at-the-blackmore-and-sparkford-vale-hunt |