Slapped at the hunt
Man’s ‘assault’ on a female saboteur is caught on film
THIS is the moment a female hunt saboteur was apparently assaulted as she tried to monitor an event.
Footage shows the woman rowing with an unidentified man in a field.
Seconds later the hunt supporter appears to slap or swipe at her face before she is pushed down on to a muddy track. She is then seen with an eye injury that required hospital treatment.
Later in the film, a woman the monitors claim to be a hunt master tells the alleged victim she is ‘not a woman’ but ‘a monster’. West Midlands Hunt Saboteurs said the incident involving Warwickshire Hunt members on Thursday was being investigated by police.
The video, shot by a male saboteur in Birdingbury, near Rugby, starts with the woman confronting a man on horseback, who says he is hunting rabbits. A man in a brown fleece approaches and tells the saboteurs: ‘You’re not welcome here. Get gone.’ When one of them claims man pushes there the is ‘illegal camera activity’, away. the As the cameraman stumbles, the man can be seen approaching the woman. Still images appear to show him slapping her. He then shouts ‘get out’ as he pushes her over. She can be heard saying into a walkie-talkie: ‘I have just been assaulted … slapped in the face.’ A WMHS spokesman said: ‘ It shows what type of people fox hunters are that they think it acceptable for men to attack women.’ A Warwickshire Hunt spokesman said it ‘acts within the law’ and ‘does not condone any form of violence’. Warwickshire Police said it was investigating an allegation of actual bodily harm.