30 Arrested As Raids Target Animal Rights Extremists

Thirty people were arrested on suspicion of involvement in animal rights extremism today in a series of raids targeting around 30 addresses across the UK and Europe.

Hampshire police said around 300 officers were involved in the operation, which was led by police forces in south-east England.

Addresses in Berkshire, Surrey, Sussex, Kent, Greater London, Merseyside, Worcestershire, Lancashire, Northumbria, Yorkshire, Belgium and the Netherlands were targeted.

"The people arrested are all suspected of being involved in criminal activity associated with animal rights extremism," a Hampshire police spokeswoman said.

"All have been taken to undisclosed police stations across the country and will be interviewed throughout the day."

The spokeswoman said European police were cooperating with the operation. "There is ongoing police activity at the addresses, and officers are working with local communities to minimise any disruption," she said.

The Freshfields Animal Rescue Centre, in Ince Blundell, Merseyside, was among the addresses targeted. It has been taking in unwanted animals from across the region for more than 25 years.

Merseyside police confirmed that the centre, near Formby, a coastal town 15 miles north of Liverpool, had been raided as part of today's operation.

The FBI has previously described the UK as the global centre of animal rights extremism, and the National Extremist Crime Unit has been coordinating police investigations into criminal activity by some members of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF).

Last year, British police began a new crackdown on animal rights extremism and those who raise funds for it.

In February this year, the Guardian revealed that the operation included targeting animal rights street stalls in city centres.

Police said some stalls had been used to raise funds for criminal actions by extremists, including campaigns such as that against Huntingdon Life Sciences, Europe's largest contract medical testing centre.

Last month, the Daily Telegraph reported that animal rights extremists had been targeting farmers at a rate of one incident every nine days. The farmers attacked were predominantly involved in processed poultry farming.

In one incident, for which the ALF claimed responsibility, around £250,000 of damage was caused to lorries in a firebomb attack on a farming business in Oxfordshire.