More than 50 Spring Hunting Out (SHout) supporters joined a family walk and picnic in Dingli today, demonstrating their rights to enjoy the countryside in spring without fear or intimidation.

Campaign spokesman Mark Sultana said: “on public holidays like today, many people take to the countryside with their family and friends. However, during a spring hunting season, our countryside is occupied by hunters on public holidays, even on Good Friday and Easter Sunday."

He said many people trying to enjoy the countryside in public areas had been victims of intimidation and harassment, walkers found public paths illegally blocked by RTO signs, and the ground littered with spent shotgun cartridges.

"Dingli was the site for a particularly brutal attack on two volunteers in 2010, where hunters threw them to the ground and beat them up. While this is an extreme case, many of these people here today have their own experiences of intimidation ," he said.

Unless the majority vote 'no' in the upcoming referendum, a spring hunting season will open on April 14.