A GROUP of animal rights activists who have been accused of harassment has vowed to continue to fight for its cause.

Greg and Natasha Avery, Heather James and Lynn Sawyer - all members of the Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) - who give their address as Boat Lane, Evesham, have had temporary injunctions preventing them from entering the area surrounding the central London offices of The State Street Corporation.

The campaigners have staged protests outside the bank, because it has allegedly invested in Huntingdon Life Sciences, believed to be Europe's largest contract animal testing laboratory.

The temporary injunction will be enforced pending a full trial to decide whether the exclusion should become permanent.

The decision was made in the High Court on Friday, but the people concerned have said the injunction is "irrelevant" and they will carry on with their protests.

"No injunction is going to make a blind bit of difference," said Greg Avery. "The law cannot stop compassionate people doing what they believe is right. Although The State Street Corporation has no involvement in animal experiments, we think they are investors in a firm that does."

But Mr Avery denied they had any involvement in underhand tactics alleged in court.

"There was talk of tyre-slashing and sending threatening letters, but that had nothing to do with us," he added.

"Anyone who is a customer of HLS is a target. People don't seem to realise just how these animals suffer," he claimed.

"Huntington has been exposed in the past for punching beagle puppies in the face, cutting open primates while they are still alive and falsifying experiments to get products on the market.

"These animals are destined to suffer and die in cruel, useless experiments. A mere injunction is not going to stop us from trying to put an end to that."

Two other groups, the Animal Liberation Front and the Animal Rights Militia, were also served with temporary injunctions.

No one at The State Street Corporation was available for comment at the time of going to press.