Pro-hunt activists to target roads, Parliament and sporting events

Militant pro-hunting activists are planning to target Tony Blair, national sporting events, and the Houses of Parliament in an increasingly violent campaign against proposals to ban fox hunting. They are also considering a series of fuel blockades in an attempt to bring the country to its knees and force the Government into a U-turn if it attempts to ban fox hunting.

Countryside campaigners have revealed that protests by militant splinter groups will intensify after a major pro-hunting march organised by the Countryside Alliance takes place in London on 22 September.

More than 150,000 supporters are already registered to take part in the Countryside Alliance, including the Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and, it is thought, Camilla Parker Bowles. Her presence will cause problems for the Royal Family, keen not to take a stance on a highly charged political issue. The final total on the march is expected to reach 250,000. But there is growing concern over the actions of militant pro-hunting groups such as the shadowy Real Countryside Alliance (Real CA) which last month defaced two historic "white horses" on hillsides in Yorkshire and Oxfordshire, adding images of huntsmen.

The Independent on Sunday has uncovered rural militants' plans to picket and disrupt public events attended by the Prime Minister, action that started last Tuesday when Tony Blair visited his Sedgefield constituency.

They will also dump rotting animal carcasses and manure outside Downing Street and the Department of the Environment, and blockade motorways before international sports events.

They intend too to repeat the blockades of ports and petrol depots staged by fuel protesters two years ago.

One activist claimed that even more violent protests would take place if the Government defied their warnings. It emerged yesterday that ministers could support a vote by the Commons to ban hunting, despite publicly claiming they were neutral on the issue. The threats by militants have increased fears that MP's offices will be targeted before this month's march in London. Last week, secretaries and researchers working for MPs were warned by the Transport and General Workers Union to install CCTV cameras, window grilles and hire security guards.

A letter from union officials at Westminster warns: "The recent emergence of extreme sections of pro-hunt campaigners has been the cause of some concern for the safety of staff at constituency offices of those MPs that support a hunt ban."

Special Branch is already investigating attacks on the offices of four Labour MPs, including the Agriculture minister Elliot Morley.

The identities of the organisers of the "Real CA" remain hidden, but prominent pro-hunting activists said they were gaining support in rural areas, particularly in Cheshire, Yorkshire, North Wales, south-west England and East Anglia.

In many of these areas, the Real CA has been blamed for causing thousands of pounds of damage to roads, signs and bridges with spray paint and stickers with green-tinted union flags carrying the slogan "Hunting is freedom". In Tory-controlled Cheshire County Council, councillors are expected to ask the police to investigate after more than 100 signs were damaged.

Supporters of the Real CA and another militant group, the Countryside Action Network, claim their growth reflects mounting dissatisfaction with a moderate, law-abiding stance and with Labour links with the Countryside Alliance.

Janet George, a leader of the Countryside Action Network which organised blockades of three motorways in July, said: "Tony Blair could find it very difficult to get anywhere. He's going to have to do a lot of skulking in back doorways, I can tell you."

However, Hugh Bayley, a moderate anti-hunting Labour MP targetted by the "Real CA" in July, said this new militancy was counter-productive. "These extremists are doing their case enormous damage, and actually driving MPs into the 'Yes' lobby to vote against hunting," he said.

The Real CA's activities have irritated the original Countryside Alliance because of its threats against MPs and its use of the alliance's name.

The chairman of the Countryside Alliance, John Jackson, has refused to condemn those of its supporters who would stage hunts if fox hunting were banned. A survey inCountry Life last week found that 63 per cent of fox hunters would continue to hunt in defiance of a ban – an act the alliance claims would be a matter of personal conscience.

One prominent countryside activist, Robin Page, the former presenter of One Man and His Dog on BBC2 and chairman of the Countryside Restoration Trust, has received pledges from nearly 180 huntsmen, field sports enthusiasts and countryside activists that they would risk imprisonment if fox hunting were banned.

Mr Page said his "prisoners of conscience" list, published by the magazine Countryman's Weekly, illustrated the depth of the resentment about the Government's stance. "There is a huge amount of anger around," he said.