About 1000 people marched through the centre of Cambridge this afternoon in an angry (but never violent) show of outrage at Cambridge University's continuing attempts to gain planning permission for a new primate laboratory on Huntingdon Road, and the incredible suffering that this would no doubt involve in the name of scientific research.

The University's proposals have already been rejected twice by South Cambs District Council, but the Government is now threatening to overrule this decision on the grounds that the centre would be of "national importance".

Full story and pictures

In February 2001, South Cambridgeshire District Council heard a planning application from Cambridge University to build a huge new research complex to carry out experiments on monkeys. It would be Europe's largest primate vivisection laboratory.

The proposed site would cover acres of green belt land close to Girton, a village on the northern outskirts of Cambridge. It would also be close to the junction of a motorway and several major 'A' roads.