Wow! Terrorists beware! Three cheers for the triumph of reason over irrationality!

Professor Tipu Aziz, a neurosurgeon, who has used primates in his research on Parkinson's disease, said the demonstration signalled “the return of democracy in the UK. This is the end of animal rights terrorist acts in the United Kingdom.”

http://www.current-biology.com/content/article/fulltext?uid=PIIS09609822...

Animal rights activists are facing new opposition. Nigel Williams reports.

The tide of animal rights protests which has seriously impaired Oxford University's plans for a new biosciences building turned last month with a demonstration by supporters of the need for animal tests in research.

But both sides are now predicting an escalating conflict after the two sides clashed during the weekend demonstrations. Both groups pledged to step up campaigns which have already resulted in death threats aimed at advocates of animal testing and panic buttons installed at the home of a leading animal test supporter.

Pro-Test, the group which organised the Oxford rally of scientists, students and patients, plans a march in London which it hopes will draw 5,000 supporters. A spokesman for Speak, the animal rights group campaigning against a new animal research laboratory in Oxford, said the Pro-Test demonstration had left it “fired up” to take tougher action.

Remarkably, the spur for the animal research support came from a teenager, Laurie Pycroft, who set up the campaign after seeing animal rights protesters in Oxford. Dr Simon Festing, executive director of the Research Defence Society, said the march “may well exacerbate the situation, but what's the alternative? We have to stand up for what we do.”

Many researchers stayed away from the march, fearing reprisals against them and their families. But two scientists spoke out in favour of animal testing. The physiologist John Stein, whose research on dyslexia involves recording brain activity in monkeys, told the crowd: “This is a historic day. We are drawing a line in the sand.” Professor Tipu Aziz, a neurosurgeon, who has used primates in his research on Parkinson's disease, said the demonstration signalled “the return of democracy in the UK. This is the end of animal rights terrorist acts in the United Kingdom.”

Oxford has become the main focus for animal rights campaigners after the university restarted building on the new biosciences building in December. Work had been delayed by 16 months after the previous building contractor pulled out following death threats.

The Medical Research Council's chief executive, Colin Blakemore, described the Pro-Test demonstration as “immensely gratifying. For a long time, we have needed this kind of collective response,” he said.