Animal-rights activists invade Europe

A rash of vandalism, intimidation and arson across continental Europe in 2008 is evidence of a worrying new wave of animal-rights extremism being exported from Britain, experts say. In early January, threats led to a Dutch developer withdrawing from a new, €60 million (about US$89 million) biomedical research park in Venray, the Netherlands. To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right). Comments Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email redesign@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published. There seems to be an assumption when Nature and other science-related publications write of animal rights activity that all your readers will be of one mind: outraged that members of the lay public would actually interfere with whatever action certified scientists wish to take, however cruel.

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