Chesterfield hunt saboteurs sprayed with muck

Hunt protesters have hit out at a farmer who sprayed them with slurry near Chesterfield.
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Members of the Sheffield Hunt Saboteurs say they were monitoring the actions of the Barlow Hunt when a tractor covered in slurry.

It came as members of the Sheffield “sabs”, joined by members of Manchester and Lincoln Hunt Sabs, attended a meet of the hunt off Alton Hill, near Ashover

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Video footage appears to show the farmer driving his tractor at them, before spraying the protesters with slurry.

Slurry is sprayed on hunt protesters.Slurry is sprayed on hunt protesters.
Slurry is sprayed on hunt protesters.

One sab said: We were monitoring the hunt, making sure they were obeying law and not hunting foxes.

“They had a trail-layer and we were following them.”The woman said the hunt went into an abandoned quarry, and the sabs followed across a field.

The 33-year-old Sheffield woman, who declined to be named for fear of reprisal, said: “A man was driving a tractor in the field with a muck spreader on the back.

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“The field bordered the road. We could see the hunt in the quarry, so we tried to cut across the field to get to where they were, to see what they were doing.

“The farmer drove at us. There were four in our group and he was driving towards one of us, then another.

“He shouted at us, but we couldn’t hear what he was saying. He didn’t come out to talk to us, to say get off the land, or that there was a footpath nearby.

“We were worried what might happen.”

The group returned to the road, to follow the hunt.

However, they said, a short while later ,when they returned up the road, the farmer blocked their way.

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The woman said: “He drove on the road, all the way. We were on the road and he was blocking it to stop us coming up. Then he sprayed us.

“He spread muck on a public road and on people on a public road. It was cold and wet and smelly and really unhygienic.”

The sabs said they had not yet decided whether to report the incident to police.

Barlow Hunt has been approached for comment.

Video courtesy of Sheffield and Manchester hunt sabs.