There will be transport from Sheffield, so get in touch at saeis@hushmail.com if you’d like a lift.

Thanks to everyone who came to the march on Saturday, or helped prepare for it. We had around 80 people, giving a great boost to the campaign and showing that we’re committed to stopping animal experiments in Sheffield. Our march coincided with an open day at the University of Sheffield, so those who haven’t even started studying know something of the vile experiments carried out by the University. All staff were sent an email by the University, alerting them about the march and giving us some much-appreciated publicity. Check back on this website to keep up to date with the campaign, or get in touch if you’d like to get involved. Read on for more photos of Saturday’s march.

We’re still looking for people to take photos on Saturday, so if you’ve a knack for photography and could transfer digital photos to our laptop after the demo, please get in touch!

P.S. Remember, the march is now starting outside the Cathedral, not City Hall!

The route

Due to clashes with other events in the city, the starting point has been changed from City Hall to the Cathedral, just a couple of minutes walk away. There will be a couple of people outside City Hall, directing any protestors who haven’t heard about the change to the new meeting point. There will be some vegan food on sale outside the Cathedral and on the march, but the meeting point is also right by the Blue Moon vegetarian cafe. The march route is detailed on the map below, winding through the city centre and up through the University of Sheffield to end in Weston Park. Sheffield Bike Festival is on the same day, so feel free to pop down to Devonshire Green afterwards!

How you can help

We still have lots of flyers to distribute before the march. Let us know if you can give some out in your area, or if you’d like to come flyering with others in Sheffield.

If you have space in your car or bus, we may be able to put you in touch with potential passengers (and vice versa). At the moment, we know of people from Southampton and Kings Lynn looking for lifts. If you need transport from London, or could be picked up from a service station on the M1, please email info@londonanimalrights.org.uk to see if there’s space.

On the day, please bring banners, placards, flyers for other demos, megaphones, drums, whistles, and anything else that will make this a march to remember!

We need some people to volunteer as stewards – if you’re happy to help guide the march and be a point of contact for protestors, please get in touch.

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact us at saeis@hushmail.com

From London Indymedia

Today, Sat 24th April, saw the annual World Day for Animals in Laboratories (WDAIL) march through the centre of London. Attracting animal rights campaigners from across the country, the march is considered the most important of the year following it’s return last year after a lengthy absence.

Around 1500 campaigners turned up to voice their support. The marchers were calling for an end to animal exploitation in laboratories, and events around the world were held to mark the event.

The march assembled in Cavendish Square at around midday where speeches were given by members of campaigns around the country including SPEAK (campaign against the Oxford University Lab) and SAEAB (Stop Animal Exploitation At Bradford). At around 1.30pm, the rally set off under heavy police escort and the customary FIT (Forward Intelligence Team) presence. The route took in Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square (where the marchers passed in absolute silence save for a single slow drum beat) and onwards past the Houses of Parliament where the police presence was noticably larger.

After reaching the finish point of the march, the activists then made their way to St Pancras Station, site of a huge proposed new BioTech laboratory opposite the main entrance where a vigil was held and the ever present Veggies Catering Campaign fed the now hungry marchers. The crowd was told that planningpermission had yet to be approved for the laboratory, but vowed to return in greater numbers with a sustained campaign should the plans go ahead.

The mood of the march, as was the case last year, was positive but sombre and attracted many sympathisers from the normal saturday London shoppers, many of whom joined the march in support meaning the numbers by the time parliment was reached were almost double.

Despite the heavy police presence, no arrests were made of the marchers and all are now on their way home, hopefully to return next year.

For more information on upcoming animal rights events both in the London area and the rest of the uk, see the calendar at http://www.veggies.org.uk

With one third of the 72 universities conducting vivisection, including the three largest (UCL, Cambridge, Oxford), covered with demo’s and actions, this has been the biggest week of action the UK animal rights movement has seen in a number of years and is most certainly a success. Other companies with links to academic animal experimentation were also covered; animal breeders, investors and academic consortiums being subject to noisy demonstrations. The UK’s largest biotechnology conference was also covered – BioTrinity 2010, attended by hundreds of companies from breeders to animal couriers, cage manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and universities.

The actions nationally were most certainly determined and focused. At Sheffield, activists scaled a building gaining much attention, Bradford saw security being breached on two seperate occasions with banner drops from balconies and buildings across campus being swamped with leaflets and Cambridge invaded. Others received demos outside their labs and student unions, exposing the horrific suffering occuring inside their laboratories. Lives have also been saved, with one university offering to hand over animals to campaigners for re-homing, instead of them being gassed to death at the end of experiments. Lufthansa Airlines have also vowed to never again fly animals destined for laboratories, following involvement with Marshall Farms, Harlan and Charles River.

A week today, thousands are expected to march through Central London as part of World Day for Animals in Laboratories and the university campaigns are set to play a large part in this. With such a success, the point to be made is that no animal experimentation is deemed acceptable and with over 35%* being conducted inside university labs, they are set to become a major focus for the growing animal rights movement. New campaigns are springing up nationwide with Bradford, Sheffield, Oxford, Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin all being the focus of intense and sustained protest. More are expected to begin over coming months.

It is clear that these campaigns are winnable and win we shall! Another week of action is going to be announced over the coming weeks.

* Home Office, March 2010