ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the challenges posed by new waves of countryside protests for the policing of rural areas. It outlines the strategies adopted by protestors and the police and considers the impact of these on relations between the police and the wider rural community. The chapter draws primarily on research undertaken for an ESRC-funded project on grassroots rural protest and political activity in Britain, including interviews with national leaders of rural groups and local rural activists in Wales, South West England and East Anglia. The tension between the desire to protest and the instinct to be restrained and law-abiding was evident in many of the mainstream pro-hunting demonstrations. The first major breakaway group to emerge was the Countryside Action Network (CAN), formed by the former Countryside Alliance spokeswoman, Janet George, which claimed to have 4,000 supporters.
