Dancing badgers invaded Norwich city centre yesterday lunchtime as part of a protest movement.

Animal rights group Rights 4 Animals took to the Haymarket precinct, in front of the city's Next and Primark stores, to perform internet dance craze the Harlem Shake.

The fun dance had teenagers soon joining in with the group, who were wearing badger masks and suits, but there was a serious message behind their messing around.

The group were protesting against plans to cull badgers.

Over 190,000 people have signed an online petition calling on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to stop planned culls of as much as 70pc of badgers in overpopulated areas.

Defra have pressed ahead with the plans because badgers carry bovine tuberculosis, which it says led to the slaughter of 26,000 cattle in 2011 and had cost the taxpayer £500m in the last 10 years.

Claire Barker, 39, who lives near Aldborough in north Norfolk, had organised the event. She said: 'It's unjust and unscientific. I've always been really passionate about animal rights, and hunting especially, and this badger cull is just so unjust.

'It's not happening in this area but I'm not able to get down to where it is happening (Gloucestershire and Somerset) and I've been speaking to people who don't even know it's happening.'

For more information about the group search 'Rights4animals' on Facebook.