The following is taken from the shac website:
World Day for Laboratory Animals has been postponed this year due to Dover District Council's refusal to allow the rally on Pencester Gardens. Also Kent police told us at the last minute that you could arrive and march a short way around Dover and then you would be forced to leave the moment the march had finished. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

We don't think any of you would appreciate a long journey to Dover to be pushed around by police, have no food, no information stalls and no speeches. We see this as a sneaky, underhand way of in effect banning people's right to protest. How dare they. We have been in negotiations with Kent police for months and they will come to realise respect is earned not given.

First they tried to shove us off on a march around the back streets of Dover (great!) so we fought for a decent march. They originally said that Pencester Gardens would be fine--then the council tell us it's not. The whole thing stinks of a combined effort to thwart us at every turn. It seems legal protest is becoming a thing of the past. Isn't it convenient for them that we are postponing World Day? Not at all because there will be nothing convenient about 28th May. All of us are driven by the plight of the animals and we need to do what is effective for them. Don't think that because the march is off on 30th April that you can't go out and do something on that day whether it is a stall or a demo with your local group.

Dover District Council obviously have no problem with primates and other animals coming through the port to be killed. Dover truly is the gateway to hell for the animals.

So what is the answer?


The answer is to gather ourselves, to think strategically and come up with a way to be 10 times as effective. The answer is "The Real World Day". This will be held on Saturday 28th May 2005. This time there will be no negotiating with police or councils whose only concern is their next election.

We see it as a complete waste of time when we could be out there fighting hard for the animals. After all we are all the animals have and police, councils and most of the public are never going to lift a finger to help them. It is time to pick our target and go for it at 100mph and sweep all obstructions out of the way.
Compare this brave woman with the cold hearted, selfish "authorities" at Dover.

I will never forget the phone call I received a few weeks ago from a young woman in Cumbria who told me that she was coming to World Day no matter what. Traveling that distance is one thing but this woman is seriously ill and she said she had to be there for the animals. What an inspiration.

If you are angry at being denied a demonstration for World Day for Laboratory Animals then the best thing you can do is get active and get mobile for them on May 28th. THE REAL WORLD DAY.

No meeting point just mobiles. So organise yourselves and send your mobile number to SHAC.