What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Badger cull protesters were confronted by armed police as they tried to film marksmen getting ready to kill the creatures.

Officers allegedly trained their weapons on three animal rights activists who were trying to thwart gunmen taking part in the state-sponsored slaughter.

One firearms officer shouts “We’re not here messing about" as the protesters are ordered to place their hands on their heads.

A trio from Liverpool Hunt Sabs were briefly held in the late-night drama, after challenging marksmen hunting badgers to shoot.

In video footage handed to the Mirror, two 4x4 armed response vehicles with flashing blue lights can be seen in a country lane.

Officers are heard shouting: “Armed police!” amid a tense stand off.

(Image: Getty)

One animal rights campaigner can be heard complaining that a badger cull gunman “just tried to threaten me with a weapon”.

Another voice, thought to be one of the shooters, is heard saying: “Rubbish.”

The dramatic confrontation is captured in a recording lasting almost seven minutes.

As tension threatens to boil over, one officer is heard telling the protesters: “Stay where you are.

“Armed police officers, do you understand?

“We have been called here because someone has reported guns being pointed at people.

“Can you hear me OK? So you understand why we are here and the seriousness of this allegation?

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

“Take that torch out of my face for a starter so I can see what you’re doing.

“I want you to put the torch down, keep all your hands where I can see them.

“Anything you’re holding, put down.

“Do as you’re told, stop talking and do as you’re told.

“We’re not here messing about, do you understand? Less talking and more listening.

“Come towards me now with your hands on your head. Do it now!”

The unarmed activists complain the marksmen are the only people with weapons.

One of the protesters, 22-year-old Chris Gillett, told how campaigners became involved in the stand-off after confronting marksmen looking for badgers to shoot.

He said: “On spotting shooters with our thermal scope we walked towards them with our torches on.

“When we got them in sight there were two shooters in full camouflage who had high-powered rifles around their backs.

“We noticed one on the phone who said, ‘They’re here now and shining torches in my face. Can you get a patrol to us?’

“At this point we spotted three vehicles racing up the lane towards us.

“We stood still while one officer spoke to the shooters for a brief moment before telling them to stand to the side.

“Officers then turned and pointed their loaded rifles at the three saboteurs.

“We were instructed to place anything we had in our hands on the floor - two torches and a mobile phone - and to put our hands on our heads.

“One by one they instructed us to walk backwards towards the officers with our hands still on our heads.”

The trio say they were held under Section 1 of the Firearms Act before being let go.

“The only people with weapons in the area were the shooters. All three saboteurs were searched and nothing was found,” he added.

The late-night drama unfolded on Toft Road, Knutsford, Cheshire.

The county is one of 11 English counties holding badger culls this autumn.

Ministers claim the programme will help wipe out TB in cattle, though experts are divided on its effectiveness.

A total of 40,892 badgers could be killed this year.

The scheme has previously been in operation in Dorset, Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Cheshire, Somerset and Wiltshire.

This year’s cull has been widened to Staffordshire and Cumbria, making it the largest on record.

A total of 19,724 badgers were killed last year, meaning a doubling of the death toll if all the creatures sentenced to death this autumn are killed.

Jay Tiernan, of the Stop the Cull group, said: “The Government tells us this policy of killing badgers is to being done to save money, but every year millions is spent policing the culls.

“For their part the police tell us that they are there to facilitate peaceful protest, yet time and again across the zones we see police surrounding the killing fields and stopping activists from lawfully protesting.

“The only thing the police are facilitating is a cruel Tory policy that is inflicting unimaginable cruelty on a much loved protected species.

“Hunt saboteurs and badger cull activists are not so easily deterred.”

A Cheshire Police spokesman said: “At 9:44pm on Tuesday October 2 officers were called to reports of a man being threatened with a firearm on Toft Road near Knutsford.

“As a precaution armed officers attended the scene.

“A search was made of the area and three men were spoken to by officers.

“No weapons were found and no arrests were made.”