Minister's anger at hunt protest

A man in a fox costume tried to get to Alun Michael outside court

Government minister Alun Michael has told a court he felt "shocked and angry" when Parliament was invaded by pro-hunting protesters last year.

Mr Michael said there had been fears of a terrorist attack following previous incidents in the House of Commons.

"It wasn't clear who they were or what they intended," he said.

Eight protesters, including 22-year-old Otis Ferry, son of musician Bryan, are denying public order charges at Bow Street Magistrates' Court.

The charges relate to a protest in the Commons chamber as MPs debated the hunting bill.

'Nice-looking fellow'

Mr Michael said one of the protesters had got to within a couple of feet of him and "lunged" towards him.

The then rural affairs minister, now a minister in the Department of Trade and Industry, said: "I was in fear when they first came in over the safety of everybody in the chamber because we didn't know what was going to happen.

"After they were removed it became clear one individual had been close enough to me to throw a punch if that was his intention, but he had not, he had made his statement and waved his finger.

"It was a very worrying situation for everybody involved.

"There was a lot going on and I think we were all afraid people were going to get hurt in this incident."

Alun Michael said the Commons protest was "worrying"

But Labour MP Kate Hoey told the court: "I certainly saw nothing that could in any way be described as threatening physical behaviour. In my view, it was a very peaceful protest."

Ms Hoey, who voted against a ban on hunting, said: "I couldn't have been closer, there was no MP nearer to it than myself. "It was what I would call a peaceful, passive protest rather like the sit-downs that have happened in many places over the years."

Former Conservative MP Archie Norman, who was also in the chamber at the time, said there was no violence involved.

And Conservative MP James Gray, who was speaking at the time of the protest, said he felt no fear when the protesters stormed in.

The MP for North Wiltshire told the court the first thing he noticed was a man standing next to him: "I didn't feel any fear at all.

"He was a nice-looking young fellow with short hair and he had a description on his T-shirt which gave me some degree of comfort."

Mr Gray said he then saw the assistant sergeant-at-arms fall over.

"I got the impression that when he fell over one of them (the protesters) tried to help him up," he said.

Polo confusion

There were rowdy scenes as Mr Michael arrived at court on Wednesday, with uniformed police officers surrounding him as several dozen demonstrators chanted: "Liar, liar" and one man dressed in a fox costume tried to get to him.

Rock star's son Otis Ferry is among the defendants denying public order charges

And as Mr Michael gave evidence, he was briefly drowned out by the sound of hunting horns outside the court building.

Earlier, confusion surrounded the absence from court of one of the defendants, a friend of princes William and Harry.

Polo player Luke Tomlinson, 28, was given leave not to attend because the judge thought he was due to play polo for England.

But it later emerged Mr Tomlinson, who is on bail, was due to play for a team called Geebung against another team called Emerging in a tournament at the Guards Polo Club in Windsor.

His solicitor Jeffrey Hide said any misunderstanding was his and not his client's fault.

'Peaceful'

In the protest, the eight dressed up in boiler suits and posed as builders to gain entry to the house, before discarding the suits to reveal foxhunting protest t-shirts.

Five of them entered the chamber, while three others were intercepted trying to get through the doors.

The incident took place as up to 15,000 pro-hunting campaigners demonstrated outside Parliament.

All eight claim they were only involved with the protest on the understanding that it would be peaceful.

All eight deny causing "harassment, alarm or distress" in the Commons on 15 September 2004.