Very interesting that. The UK media were almsot completely silent on the issue, which is surprising given the large number of people involved in the action and the damage to property they caused, which normally gets all the papers fired up. The only paper that ran the story, to my knowledge, was the Daily Mail - front page too. Unfortunately they don't have a web edition...

This same piece was in the Boston Globe last week being carried by the AP. Not only does the article focus on 'violence' (of activists and not the state) istead of the issues and circumstances; but the article doesn't even make the connection between animal-rights activists and these pharmacutical companies. Suppression of information is becoming ever more blatant. If anyone has more info about the action please e-mail me.

Story Filed: Sunday, February 11, 2001 5:50 PM EST

LONDON (Reuters) - British police arrested 81 animal rights campaigners on Sunday after they broke into a facility owned by German chemicals and drugs giant Bayer in southern England.

The protesters were from the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty Group (SHAC), which earlier this year brought Britain's oldest drug-testing firm Huntingdon Life Sciences to the brink of collapse before a last-minute financial backer was found.

A police spokeswoman said that the activists were being held at various police stations on suspicion of burglary and intent to commit criminal damage.

``They smashed ground floor windows, overturned cabinets and destroyed machinery,'' the spokeswoman said.

SHAC said it had targeted the Bayer facility because the group was a customer of Huntingdon.

The action was part of a coordinated campaign by the group on Sunday to target nine customers, including facilities owned by British multinational Glaxo SmithKline.

``We targeted Bayer and others today because they are customers of Huntingdon,'' a SHAC spokeswoman said.

``Our tactic is to target anyone who is connected with Huntingdon Life Sciences.''

She said that included Stephens Group Inc, a family-owned investment company based in Little Rock, Arkansas, which bailed out Huntingdon. SHAC accuses Huntingdon Life Sciences of causing hundreds of animals to die each day.


POLICE PROMISE MAJOR INVESTIGATION

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Love, who oversaw Sunday's arrests, warned campaigners against breaking the law.

``There will be a major investigation and we will do everything necessary to bring charges against those involved,'' he said.

More than 100 protesters were involved in the raid, police said.

The Bayer attack is the latest in a series of sabotages involving animal rights groups, who protest against activities ranging from tests on animals in laboratories to fox hunting in rural British areas.

``Animal Liberation Front does anything from rescuing animals to economic sabotage,'' said a spokesman for the group, which was not involved in the raid on Bayer.

``By damaging property belonging to a particular company it is not just the material damage, but also the knock-on effects of security costs and insurance these companies then have to take on.''

Earlier this month British police said they suspected animal rights activists were behind 10 letter bomb attacks on shops and small businesses.