Battle of Brightlingsea
Encyclopedia
Brightlingsea
Brightlingsea is a coastal town in the Tendring district of Essex, England, located between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, situated at the mouth of the River Colne, on Brightlingsea Creek. It has an estimated population of 8500....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, in 1995 to prevent the export
Export
The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...
of livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
through the town. The name was first used by the media in The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
newspaper, after Essex Police
Essex Police
Essex Police is a territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Essex in the east of England.It is one of the largest non-metropolitan police forces in the United Kingdom, employing approximately 3,600 police officers and operating across an area of over and with a population of...
used riot control
Riot control
Riot control refers to the measures used by police, military, or other security forces to control, disperse, and arrest civilians who are involved in a riot, demonstration, or protest. Law enforcement officers or soldiers have long used non-lethal weapons such as batons and whips to disperse crowds...
measures against peaceful demonstrators on 18 January 1995. Exporters had been forced to use small ports such as Brightlingsea to transport livestock after the country's three main ferry operators introduced bans on live cargo. This followed mounting public pressure about the suffering of sheep and cattle packed into huge transport vehicles for excessive periods.
By 1995 more people had come to view the conditions in which animals were reared, transported and slaughtered as a matter of "acute concern." Although Britain had higher standards for the protection of livestock than other countries, the government was unable to impose acceptable minimum standards on the rest of Europe. The two largest campaign groups, Compassion in World Farming
Compassion In World Farming
Compassion in World Farming is a campaigning and lobbying animal welfare organisation, with headquarters in the UK, branches in eight European countries and international representatives in China, Australia and South Africa...
(CIWF) and the RSPCA
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is a charity in England and Wales that promotes animal welfare. In 2009 the RSPCA investigated 141,280 cruelty complaints and collected and rescued 135,293 animals...
called for a ban on all live exports by limiting journeys to eight hours, a time too short effectively to operate the trade. European regulations allowed for a journey of up to 24 hours without food or water.
The demonstrations, which were composed largely of local residents, began on 16 January 1995 and ended on 30 October 1995 when exporters announced that they would no longer transport animals through the town due to the extra cost and chaos caused by the daily protests. In practice, the export of live animals continued from other ports, halting only in February 1996 when the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
banned live exports from Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
over fears of "mad cow disease
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy , commonly known as mad-cow disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes a spongy degeneration in the brain and spinal cord. BSE has a long incubation period, about 30 months to 8 years, usually affecting adult cattle at a peak age onset of...
" entering the European food chain. The ban was lifted in 2006.
Cross-Channel trade
In 1988 there were approximately 1,000 abattoirsSlaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
in Britain. By 1992 this number had fallen to 700 of which half were at risk of closure because of changes to European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
(EC) regulations. Prior to this date most livestock in the country were only a few hours by road from the abattoir. The closures lengthened the road journeys required and, under EC rather than UK regulations, transport times of up to 24 hours without rest, food or water were permissible. Investigations found that even this extended period was "routinely flouted." British animal welfare groups, such as CIWF and the RSPCA, campaigned against live exports largely because of the suffering of cattle during these long-distance journeys. The RSPCA, which had been campaigning for a complete ban on live exports since 1991, said: "All animals should be slaughtered as close as possible to where they are reared." The British Veterinary Association
British Veterinary Association
The British Veterinary Association is the national body for veterinary surgeons in the United Kingdom and is a not-for-profit organisation. Its purpose is that of knowledge dissemination, and not professional validation or academic competence...
adopted a similar stance, declaring that they were "opposed to the export of animals for immediate slaughter and believe that all animals should be slaughtered as near to the point of production as possible." There was also concern about the continuing export of between 300,000 and 400,000 calves
Calf
Calves are the young of domestic cattle. Calves are reared to become adult cattle, or are slaughtered for their meat, called veal.-Terminology:...
each year to Europe, where they were then confined in darkness in veal crates
Veal
Veal is the meat of young cattle , as opposed to meat from older cattle. Though veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, most veal comes from male calves of dairy cattle breeds...
and fed on low-iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
, liquid diets designed to produce a commercially valuable pale flesh. Veal crates had been banned in Britain since 1990, but there were no regulations in place to prevent the export of calves to other countries using veal crates or on the subsequent re-import of the meat into Britain. In 1992 250,000 live calves had been exported for veal crating to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
alone, and 1.4 million live sheep had been exported. Following the introduction of the single European market in 1993, live animals were regarded as "'agricultural products' in exactly the same way as a consignment of turnip
Turnip
The turnip or white turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock...
s", and any attempt to regulate their journey times or conditions of travel was interpreted as 'a restraint on trade' and, therefore, illegal.
Commercial interests
Commercial interests played a large part in the growth of live exports. Although it cost four times as much to transport a live animal to France than a carcass, British lambs slaughtered in French abattoirs were marked with a French meat inspection stamp instead of the UK abattoir stamp used on British carcass imports. This allowed the meat to be labelled and sold to consumers as "French produced" at a large premium, outweighing the increased transport costs. A similar practice was carried out in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
with consignments of live animals exported ostensibly "for further fattening." This bypassed a British ban on animals being exported for slaughter in Spanish abattoirs, which had been imposed because of "public revulsion at [Spanish] slaughterhouse standards." After a few days of grazing in Spain, the animals were re-classified as Spanish-reared and subsequently slaughtered.
Live animals also provided extra profit for slaughterhouses in the form of the so-called "fifth quarter": the offal
Offal
Offal , also called, especially in the United States, variety meats or organ meats, refers to the internal organs and entrails of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, which varies by culture and region, but includes most internal organs other than...
, hide, intestine (for sausage skins) and, in sheep, the fleece
Sheepskin
Sheepskin is the hide of a sheep, sometimes also called lambskin or lambswool.Sheepskin may also refer to:* Parchment, a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin** Diploma, originally made of sheepskin...
.
Calls for ban rejected
In April 1994 Nicholas SoamesNicholas Soames
Arthur Nicholas Winston Soames MP , known as Nicholas Soames, is a British Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the constituency of Mid Sussex....
, the minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was a United Kingdom government department created by the Board of Agriculture Act 1889 and at that time called the Board of Agriculture, and then from 1903 the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and from 1919 the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries...
(MAFF), announced that despite national campaigns calling for an outright ban on live exports, this could not be imposed as it "would be in breach of European Union law." He said that the Government was "acutely aware" of the great strength of feeling and that the legal department at MAFF had considered a ban under article 36 of the Treaty of Rome
Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, was an international agreement that led to the founding of the European Economic Community on 1 January 1958. It was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany...
, which allowed a restriction on trade on the grounds of public morality or protection of health of humans, animals and plants. The advisers had concluded that article 36 "is not available as a basis of action in an area where the Community has established EC legislation." In response to a question in Parliament, Soames told Sir Teddy Taylor
Teddy Taylor
Sir Edward MacMillan Taylor, usually known as Teddy Taylor , is a British Conservative Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1964 to 1979 for Glasgow Cathcart and from 1980 to 2005 for Rochford and Southend East.He was a leading member and sometime Vice-President of the Conservative...
: "It is not for individual member states to constrain intra-community trade in order to impose higher standards on their own territory". Sir Teddy later told the press: "What this means is that there is absolutely nothing which the Government and Parliament can do to stop the traffic and that the great national campaigns by the animal charities are pointless... [It is] a massive disappointment which will cause concern to many people in the UK who are concerned about the suffering of animals".
Sheep deaths in transit
Protests against live export began to be held at British ports and airports. In August 1994 MAFF launched an inquiry after GreekGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
authorities reported that a lorry loaded with 400 sheep from England had arrived in the Greek port of Igoumenitsa
Igoumenitsa
Igoumenitsa , is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit Thesprotia. Its original ancient name used to be Titani....
on a ferry from Brindisi
Brindisi
Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
on July 8 with 302 of the animals having died in transit. No export licence to Greece had been granted for the livestock, which left for the Netherlands on the Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
to Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
ferry on 5 July. Chief Superintendent Don Balfour, head of the RSPCA special operations unit, said: "It is an awful example of what can go wrong on these long journeys with live animals. I question why it is necessary to subject animals to such journeys when there are perfectly adequate slaughterhouses in this country and refrigerated lorries to carry the meat abroad."
Public pressure to ban exports
Also in August, tabloid newspaper the Daily Star published an article disclosing that British AirwaysBritish Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
(BA) were transporting live sheep between Perth, Scotland
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
. Within twenty four hours of the newspaper being published, Robert Ayling
Robert Ayling
Robert John Ayling is a British businessman who has been involved in many high profile companies and organisations. Perhaps most notably, he was chief executive of British Airways from 1996 to 2000.-Career:...
, BA's group managing director, banned the carriage of live animals destined for slaughter on BA flights. In the face of increasing public pressure, Brittany Ferries
Brittany Ferries
Brittany Ferries is a French ferry company that runs ships between France, the UK, Ireland and Spain.-1970s and 1980s:Following the provision of the deep-water port at Roscoff, the company commenced in January 1973 at the instigation of Alexis Gourvennec, when existing ferry companies showed...
announced that as of 22 August 1994 it would no longer export live animals for slaughter on its six routes to France and Spain. Demonstrators protested at the Dover and Ashford
Ashford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...
ferry terminals in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, and the offices of Stena Sealink
Sealink
Sealink was a ferry company based in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Ireland....
ferries were firebombed
Incendiary device
Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices or incendiary bombs are bombs designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using materials such as napalm, thermite, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus....
. As a result, Stena Sealink announced it would no longer transport live animals. Jim Hannah, the company's communications director, said: "We have acted essentially for commercial reasons. Over the past few months we have received thousands of letters from our customers saying they do not want to travel on a ferry that carries livestock." P&O
P&O Ferries
P&O Ferries is the current name for the amalgamation of a range of ferry services that operated from the United Kingdom to Ireland and Continental Europe...
said it would stop carrying animals to Europe for slaughter from October 1994, "unless an improvement in European Union standards was imminent." As public feeling against live export grew, even those ferry operators which did not transport livestock felt compelled to distance themselves from the trade. Sally Ferries UK
Sally Line
Sally Line UK was a British ferry operator on the English Channel and North Sea.-History:Sally Line was founded in 1981 by Michael Kingshott as a subsidiary of the Finland-based Rederi Ab Sally, and initially marketed as Sally Viking Line, with a livery that was nearly identical with that of...
sent out a press released "stressing it [had] rejected trade in live freight for more than 13 years" although it was actually a local by-law which prohibited them from carrying live exports from their port.
Exporters' by-pass ferry bans
By 1 October 1994, when the ferry operators' ban began to affect the export trade, MAFF had received five applications from smaller operators to take over the trade. The new operators planned to carry only animals and freight "and would therefore be less exposed to public disapproval." MT Shipping planned to sail from HarwichHarwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
, Essex to Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
, France, an eight-hour journey much longer than the traditional one from Dover to Calais. The company said it would take between 50 and 110 lorries on its ferry, while P&O and Stena Sealink normally carried no more than twelve livestock lorries on their ships, mainly due to ventilation and heat problems. They also asked permission to use former East European military transport planes
Antonov An-12
The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. It is the military version of the Antonov An-10.-Design and development:...
to fly animals to Europe, a move opposed by campaigners because the aircraft were unpressurised
Cabin pressurization
Cabin pressurization is the pumping of compressed air into an aircraft cabin to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for crew and passengers when flying at altitude.-Need for cabin pressurization:...
. Balkan Airlines
Balkan Bulgarian Airlines
Balkan Airlines was Bulgaria's government-owned flag carrier between 1947 and 2002. During the 1970s the airliner became a significant European carrier. The company encountered financial instability following the fall of communism in Eastern Europe...
flights from Humberside Airport
Humberside Airport
-Cargo flights:Icelandair Cargo operate a weekly Sunday flight from Keflavík which then departs to Liege-Passenger statistics:-Bus service:An hourly daytime bus service runs from Grimsby and Hull to the airport from Monday to Saturday.-External links:**...
to Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
in the Netherlands using these aircraft were approved by MAFF on 20 October 1994. These flights were halted at the end of November 1994 due to "the strength of public feeling." Other flights took place from Belfast Airport
Belfast Airport
Belfast Airport may refer to:* Belfast International Airport, serving Belfast, Northern Ireland - the main international airport* George Best Belfast City Airport, serving Belfast, Northern Ireland - a smaller airport closer to Belfast City Centre...
, Glasgow Prestwick Airport, Bournemouth Airport
Bournemouth Airport
Bournemouth Airport is an airport located north-northeast of Bournemouth, in southern England...
and Coventry Airport
Coventry Airport
Coventry Airport is located south southeast of Coventry city centre, in the village of Baginton, Warwickshire, England, and about outside Coventry boundaries...
.
On 28 October 1994 a ferry carrying 3,000 lambs sailed from Grimsby
Grimsby
Grimsby is a seaport on the Humber Estuary in Lincolnshire, England. It has been the administrative centre of the unitary authority area of North East Lincolnshire since 1996...
to Calais, a journey of about 18 hours, in a "trial run" intended to open up a new route. The animals were then transported for 10 hours by road to an abattoir in central France. The RSPCA said: "We are appalled that these animals have to endure such a long and stressful journey. It is simply not necessary for animals to be transported live for food." In November 1994 Ferrylink Freight Services, owned by Mersey Docks and Harbour Company
Mersey Docks and Harbour Company
The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company , formerly the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board , owns and administers the dock facilities of the Port of Liverpool, on the River Mersey, England...
, announced they would transport livestock from Sheerness
Sheerness
Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
in Kent to Vlissingen in the Netherlands. Following the first shipment of 3,000 animals, Ferrylink postponed further sailings following bomb threat
Bomb threat
A bomb threat is generally defined as a threat, usually verbal or written, to detonate an explosive or incendiary device to cause property damage, death, or injuries, whether or not such a device actually exists...
s.
On 30 November 1994 a new route was opened from Millbay docks, Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
. Approximately 100 police officers were used to escort five lorries loaded with sheep and calves through protesters. On 3-4 December 1994 Glasgow Prestwick Airport took out advertisements in Scottish newspapers asking the public to write to them to say whether cattle shipments should continue from the airport. On 9 December 1994 the airport announced it would no longer transport live animals. On 21 December 1994 Air Algérie Flight 702P
Air Algérie Flight 702P
Air Algérie/Phoenix Flight 702P, ship name Oasis, registration 7T-VEE, was a Boeing 737 owned by Air Algérie and leased by Phoenix Aviation which crashed on 21 December 1994 on landing at Coventry Airport, United Kingdom...
crashed at Coventry on its way to pick up a cargo of 200 calves. All five crew were killed. By January 1995 the only routes still available for live export were Coventry Airport, Plymouth and Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea is a small town, port and seaside resort in West Sussex, England. Shoreham-by-Sea railway station is located less than a mile from the town centre and London Gatwick Airport is away...
. Shoreham had become the scene of daily violent demonstrations - dubbed the "Siege of Shoreham" by the media - as protestors attempted to prevent cattle trucks from entering the harbour.
Route
On 11 January 1995 it was revealed that exporters planned to open a new route from Brightlingsea. That an attempt to load livestock at the town's wharf was imminent was widely known by both the authorities and the protesters. Writing in The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
on 13 January, David McKie
David McKie
David McKie is a British journalist and historian. He was deputy editor of The Guardian and continued to write a weekly column for that paper until 4 October 2007, with the byline "Elsewhere". Until 10 September 2005, he also wrote a second weekly column, under the pseudonym "Smallweed"...
, the newspaper's deputy editor, said: "Next week may also be the first time you ask yourself: Where is Brightlingsea? It's been situated almost unnoticed for many centuries eight miles south-east of Colchester. You may need to know because it's one of the minor league ports which may be the scene of confrontations next week as the trade tries to use it for the export of calves, now that Shoreham is so troublesome." The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
warned: "If plans go ahead for the attempted export of calves through its port, residents of [Brightlingsea] (eight miles south-east of Colchester on the B1029, if you're passing that way) had better start barricading their windows now. Protesters, journalists and cameramen will be looking to make it this week's Shoreham-by-Sea." Brightlingsea's layout was ideal for the protesters, and also for the media: unlike other ports, the route that livestock trucks would need to follow through the town to the wharf was very narrow and easily blocked, and also meant that people on the roadside were close enough to the trucks to touch the animals as they passed. Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) Geoffrey Markham of Essex Police described the wharf as "the wrong end of a narrow three mile road in a medieval town."
First protest
On 16 January the DanishDenmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
vessel Caroline was due to sail at midnight from the town with a cargo of 2,000 sheep destined for Nieuwpoort, Belgium
Nieuwpoort, Belgium
Nieuwpoort is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Nieuwpoort proper and the towns of Ramskapelle and Sint-Joris. On January 1, 2008 Nieuwpoort had a total population of 11,062....
. Local residents formed an ad hoc protest group, Brightlingsea Against Live Exports (BALE), and began arriving to demonstrate at approximately 8.30am. By the time the first vehicle arrived at 6.35pm, carrying 400 sheep, around 1,500, mostly local, people had gathered. Apart from dirt thrown at the truck's windscreen, the demonstration was largely peaceful and consisted of people lying and sitting in the road to block vehicle movement. ACC Markham said: "There were young people in the crowd and elderly people. The situation was, in my mind, quite dangerous. On these grounds, I decided that the vehicle should turn around. Having spoken to the organisers of the demonstration, I took the decision that there will be no movement of livestock into Brightlingsea tonight. I will now meet with my colleagues to think about the strategic issue." BALE organiser Francesca d'Silva said: "We are glad that the lorry has been turned back but we are not convinced none will come again. We'll be here as long as it takes."
Storms prevent sailings
Plans to make a second attempt at loading the Caroline were delayed on 17 January when sailings at Brightlingsea were cancelled due to 70mph winds off the south coast. BALE leafletted every household in the town asking people to attend the protest scheduled for 18 January. They also announced that they would be using boats to intercept the Caroline in the event that the main roadside protest failed.Riot police
Exporter Roger Mills threatened to sue Essex Police for £30,000 compensation over their failure to escort sheep to the wharf on 16 January. He also warned that he would transport livestock through Brightlingsea on 18 January "with or without police support," and ACC Markham responded by ordering the largest public orderPublic order crime
In criminology, public-order crime is defined by Siegel as "...crime which involves acts that interfere with the operations of society and the ability of people to function efficiently", i.e. it is behaviour that has been labelled criminal because it is contrary to shared norms, social values, and...
operation in Essex since the 1950s. Just before 8.00am on 18 January trucks carrying 2,000 sheep made their way through the town. Approximately 500 protestors had gathered to attempt to block their route. Essex Police deployed approximately 300 officers, many in riot gear. The first group of protestors who sat in the road were dragged out by police and anybody attempting to take their place was stamped on or punched by officers.