"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you,then they fight you, then you win. "

At least Peter Jolly junior did call his thugs to heel in front of us last night and they slinked off tails between their legs. We can see why. A circus is not something which we as animal rights activists concentrate on rightly or wrongly.

They go from town to town and get a peaceful banner demo with just a few locals. Peter Jolly's Circus are making themselves into a target with their use of violence. A dedicated campaign run like SHAC or SPEAK would bury them and they have virtually invited us to pay them far more attention than any other circus who abuse animals with their disgusting behaviour. At Evesham the plan was to do a couple of very fluffy demos with a few people, instead they only had one night without a protest with lots of people.

Stories in the local press have been about violent clashes. If they say we are violent it works in our favour, if they say the circus are violent it works in our favour, if they say both sides are violent it works in our favour because who wants to take their 3 year old to a place where fists are flying and some bloke is trying to flash at animal rights people and using terms such as "arse tickling faggots"?

Hopefully the message is beginning to sink into some very thick skulls. We as a movement ARE going to protest whether they like it or not. Violence and threats will lead to nothing but tears before bedtime and lots of messy legal wrangles. Not good when they want to encourage the public to attend, get money from the Arts Council, actually have public liability insurance (car insurance etc), get a permit from the council, get venues etc. They are really too vulnerable to continue in this way if they muzzle the sociopaths we win because we continue to protest peacefully getting across our message that animals do not exist for amusement. If the violence continues we win because we can unleash hell using evidence of their behaviour against them in a whole variety of ways.

Finally, Jollys have actually behaved themselves. Last night no threats, no cars being driven at people, no-one being hit, no weapons, nothing all AND without a police presence. Has the penny finally dropped?

According to the police they won't act because it's "six of one half a dozen of the other", no suprise there! When the authorities call animal rights people "violent" they are often referring to actions carried out by the ALF/ARM in retaliation to animal abuser violence where the police can not be bothered to do their job. Historically the first ALF actions were taken against hunts whereby hunt violence and police apathy compromised hunt saboteurs. The only sensible course of action left was to hit the kennels and hunt vehicles to tame the worst excesses of certain hunts.

According to the police hitting people, brandishing weapons, obscene behaviour in front of children, threats to kill, driving at people (including young children), throwing missiles etc are all acceptable behaviour. We have not done any of these things but we have given the police the opportunity to curb the violence and predictably they have failed. No justice, just us as per usual. We would never sink to the depths that Jolly's have if we did it would include brandishing scewdrivers and iron bars in front of their customers threatening to kill everyone whilst punching people in the face and driving into pedestrians. BUT we will not meekly turn away from these vermin. If they continue to behave themselves all well and good so will we, if not they will not just be facing the local groups wherever they go, nor will the winter quarters in Shropshire escape our attention. We will have to see what happens on Sunday.

Not a peep from the circus no spitting, hitting, swearing, homophobia or trying to run us over. Blimey!!!

Prisoners of Peter Jolly's Circus are reported to include: bear, camels, zebra, mules, cow, ponies, horses, llamas goats, geese, ducks, snakes, birds.

It may be a sign of the times that Jolly's do not list forthcoming dates on their website at  http://www.peterjollyscircus.moonfruit.com/, but only list their current location.

However an archive of past dates is kept by the Animal Rights Calendar at  http://www.veggies.org.uk/event.php?ref=331#jollys.

Locations from previous years can give an indication of future plans; this is certainly more so with the 'great' british circus (currently near Potters Bar), Circus Mondao (Rainworth, Notts), Bobby Robers (Newcastle), Zippos (next stop East Ham, London, then Wallington, Surrey).

Details of further dates and press reports can be sent to the Animal Rights Calendar to keep the archive more complete.