Alliance attacks go-slow by hunting campaigners

The countryside Alliance condemned a group of renegade pro-hunting activists who tried to recreate the chaos caused by fuel-price protesters with a rush-hour "go-slow'' on motorways yesterday.

Protesters from the Countryside Action Network abandoned several actions around Birmingham because the M42, M6 and M5 motorways were too congested for their protest to make any impact.

Similar demonstrations in Cambridge, south Wales and Manchester only had a minimal effect on traffic.

However, a convoy of four-wheel drive vehicles caused "considerable tailbacks" on the A1(M) and the M18, police in South Yorkshire said.

The campaigners insisted the protest had been a success. A spokeswoman said the protesters were also members of the Countryside Alliance, which they felt was "just a little bit too polite and politeness does not work with New Labour".

Richard Burge, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, said: "Public support and the weight of public opinion is the greatest ally of rural Britain at this time and actions which undermine that support are counterproductive."