LONDON – Five protesters angry at plans to ban fox hunting managed to get onto the floor in Britain’s House of Commons and accosted members before being dragged off by ushers dressed in traditional long-tailed coats and buckled shoes.
In spite of the intrusion, apparently the first such incident in more than 300 years, Parliament outlawed hunting with dogs on a vote of 356-166. The result fulfilled a Labor Party pledge dating to the start of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government in 1997 to end the centuries-old sport.
But the vote was overshadowed by the second serious breach of security in this country in three days, renewing fears that safeguards in Britain are inadequate and that the prime minister and royal family could be vulnerable.
Members of Parliament were visibly shaken when the protesters penetrated several levels of security, walked past private offices used by Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown, and entered the chamber through doorways that are supposed to be tightly restricted.
“Totally unacceptable,” said Mark Oaten, a member with the Liberal Democrat Party. “Clearly, the way things operate now is not working.”
Officials promised an immediate investigation amid suspicions that a pro-hunting lawmaker may have aided the intruders. Other security reviews were under way at Buckingham Palace, where on Monday a protester scaled a fence and wall to reach a balcony customarily used by Queen Elizabeth II.
Parliament was debating the fox-hunting legislation at 4:20 p.m. when four men in white pro-hunting T-shirts suddenly emerged from behind the chair used by the speaker, and another dashed in from the opposite direction.
“This isn’t democracy! You are overturning democracy!” a protester shouted as he stood before Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael. The confrontation was broadcast live on television.
Deputy Speaker Sylvia Heal sounded an alarm and suspended the session while doorkeepers wrestled the protesters from the room. Debate resumed after about 20 minutes. Blair was not present for the melee.
Skirmishes outside were hardly less pitched. An estimated 10,000 rural residents organized by the Countryside Alliance assembled outside Parliament, some dressed as foxes, carrying placards denouncing Blair’s government and the proposed ban.
Protesters threw firecrackers, bottles and smoke bombs.
“They are trying to change a way of life that has been around since civilization began,” complained demonstrator Wendy Parkes from Suffolk, in east England. She and her three children all hunt foxes, she said. “This is a law made by people who don’t understand about life and death in the countryside.”
Associated Press
Hunting supporters and police officers clash Wednesday outside Parliament in London.
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