On Saturday 9th March, the Save the Harlan Beagles campaign hosted a silent, peaceful procession in Brighton.

This is a report from Julie Hinman, an Attender at Worthing Meeting and QCA member, who attended:

At the national procession in Brighton organised by Save the Harlan Beagles on 9^th March, the first thing I noticed was the dogs– quite a few – not just beagles but also terriers, staffies, german shepherds. Lots of happy, excited sniffing around, but surprisingly little barking – it made me think how different their fate could have been.

 

We were joined by coachloads of anti – Harlan Groups from Italy, France and Belgium and their different flags added colour to the procession, mainly clothed in black .

 

The procession walked along the seafront in silence behind a white coffin shouldered by 4 bearers, and a van playing music. In a square three speakers gave brief talks – Andre Menache, QCA patron, then a speaker who read out support from Caroline Lucas, Green MP, and lastly one of the organisers who read her own moving poem about a beagle in Harslan- a good mix of science, politics and compassion in support of the closure.

 

Andre Menache, with representatives of the Save the Harlan Beagles group, is going to Parliament on Wednesday to discuss the issues.

 

We walked back still in silence through the crowded town centre so were able to do lots of leafleting – this time with a commentary telling the public about Harlan. Walking to the rail station, I saw only one discarded leaflet, which is a good sign.

Simultaneous events calling for the closure of Europe-wide Harlan facilities were also to take place in France, Italy, Belgium and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

For more details, please visit:

www.savetheharlanbeagles.com – where QCA patron Andre Menache writes.

… and here is his address at Brighton: