Police officers are to be given tough new powers to deal with hunt saboteurs and protesters at sporting events as part of this autumn's criminal justice reforms.
In a contentious change in the justice system, Michael Howard, the home secretary, is preparing to introduce criminal sanctions against protesters who trespass on private land.
The police have complained to ministers at the lack of powers to move or arrest demonstrators unless they are caught damaging property or attacking participants at hunts and other sporting events. Even when the protesters merely stand silently, their ability to disrupt or halt such events often leads to violence.
Last season there was a spate of court cases in which hunt officials and followers charged with attacking saboteurs cited extreme provocation for their actions. This week, the Cambridgeshire Hunt in John Major's Huntingdon constituency voted to carry on its 200-year-old hunt despite the death of a teenage protester at a meet in April. He was crushed under a horsebox at a demonstration.
The new laws, to be contained in a criminal justice bill - the centrepiece of the Queen's Speech in November - mark out a key policy difference with Labour by favouring the owners of private property over civil rights. Under the bill, the police and landowners would gain extra powers to evict New Age travellers and squatters. It would also toughen the penalties for pitch invasions at football and cricket matches, as recommended by Lord Taylor's enquiry into the Hillsborough stadium disaster.
As an extension of those laws, Home Office ministers have drawn up the new penalties for hunt saboteurs and protesters who disrupt field sports. The reforms are part of Mr Howard's determination, supported by the prime minister, to woo back Conservative voters who complain that the justice system has become weighted too heavily in favour of civil liberties and away from landowners.
