THE Countryside Alliance pleaded with members last night not to take the law into their own hands after MPs’ decision to ban hunting with dogs.

The warning came after a commotion in the Commons yesterday when seven activists, believed to be members of the militant Real CA, disrupted a hearing of MPs scrutinising the Hunting Bill in its committee stage.

Protesters were escorted by police out of the Palace of Westminster after they held up banners with slogans saying “Bigots” and “Banning hunting is discrimination”.

One of the group, Tom Bowden, 20, a student, who rides with the Middleton hunt in Yorkshire, said: “I am a hunt supporter and it is my sport and other people’s lives they are playing with. They were discussing it like a sixth-form debating society and it’s important we make them listen.”

Others were Meg Abuhamden, 20, Bill Morley, 20, Emma Robinson, 22, Tamara Hall, 20, from Yorkshire, Sarah Johnson, 19, from Hertfordshire, Kate Doyle, 20, from Cornwall, and Mark Jenkins, 20, from Nottinghamshire.

Alliance leaders told members that the countryside was on “a war footing”, but it was important not to alienate the public or the House of Lords. Their statement added: “Now more than ever, we must not jeopardise their hard-won support. Resorting to anarchy will lose that support — we must make our battle their battle.”

The alliance has also asked supporters to take part with their dogs in a protest, “Democracy to the Dogs”, in Parliament Square to coincide with third reading of the Hunting Bill next Wednesday.

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