Impounding of horses causes angry protesters to march on Leinster House

It was the biggest collision of politics and horse-power since Charlie Haughey's recent accident. But despite a few tense moments, yesterday's protest over the impounding of horses in Dublin passed off without injury to any of the participants.

"Horses before politics" proclaimed one of the banners as the marchers, accompanied by 40 shades of piebald, made their way from Smithfield to Leinster House. Some of the messages were more pointed. "Today my pet, tomorrow a French burger", read one, in reference to the suspected fate of horses impounded by the city authorities.

"What do we want? Land!" shouted the human protesters, while some of the four-legged marchers whinnied in sympathy. But when the leaders called a minute's silence in O'Connell Street "for all the horses murdered by South Dublin County Council and Dublin Corporation," it was observed - eerily - even by the horses.

Crossing O'Connell Bridge, there was a sharp difference of opinion between the protesters and the gardai, who wanted to keep a lane clear for traffic.

"If it was a [expletive deleted] farmers' protest, you wouldn't be keeping a lane clear," suggested one protester, who fanned out to defeat the Garda i's efforts.

And the tone of bitterness continued at Leinster House, where the campaigners handed in letters, in brown envelopes. "Brown envelopes is all they understand in there," said Ms Angela Boylan, chairwoman of the Quarryvale Horse and Pony Club. "They're too busy sorting out Northern Ireland to sort out what's happening in their own city," she added.

Mr Edward Kershaw of the Gallanstown Vision youth group explained that the protest was "not about horses, but about the barriers being erected between rich and poor". Citing Martin Luther King, he said the group planned a series of sit-down protests in "secret locations" in support of their cause.

One protester claimed to be unemployed as a direct result of the council's actions on horses. Mr Michael O'Neill, of the Dublin Horse Owners' Association, said the two horses he used for delivering fuel had been impounded by the council. "They're acting like thieves in the night," he said.