THOUSANDS of hunt and countryside sports supporters from across Kent, Surrey and Sussex are expected to gather at Lower Hayesden, Tonbridge, on Saturday.

They will be signing the Hunting Declaration, a commitment to refuse to co-operate with any hunting ban introduced by the Government and to take the legal consequences if necessary.

The mass gathering at 10am is one of 12 planned simultaneously across the country to further demonstrate the depth of opposition to curbs on hunting.

Roger Scruton, joint founder of the Hunting Declaration Initiative, said it was part of a strategy of civil disobedience.

He said: "To engage in such a strategy does not mean to sanction law-breaking nor to incite others to break the law. Nor does it mean assuming the right to break any other law.

"It means exercising the individual's right to follow his or her conscience, not with a view to escaping punishment, but with a view to bringing public attention to the injustice of a particular law."