British animal rights activists are set to stage a demonstration in the countryside despite warnings they could spread the foot-and-mouth virus.
Farmers and the British police have called on organisers to postpone the demonstration against the pharmaceutical firm Huntingdon Life Sciences at Occold, Suffolk.
They say it would be a "supreme irony" if an animal rights campaigner caused animals to be killed by spreading foot-and-mouth.
Organisers say the demonstration will go ahead although protesters will act responsibly by remaining on roads.
Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, (SHAC) the group organising the protest, says it does not think that protesters will spread the virus.
A notice on the group's web site refers to "media hysteria" about foot-and-mouth and says the virus is "predominately an economic rather than animal welfare problem".
PA