Animal rights activists have apologised to Oxford residents who found their cars and homes plastered with stickers following a protest.

About 500 supporters of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) marched from Oxpens to Littlemore and Sandford on Saturday.

Despite having agreed to keep the demonstration peaceful, violent clashes occurred between some protesters and police.

A man was charged with public order offences and several people, including two police officers, suffered minor injuries during a scuffle in Iffley Road.

A few protesters plastered stickers on almost every available surface, urging people to boycott certain companies. Now organisers have said they are sorry as they had asked people not to leave stickers on private property.

SHAC spokesman Charlotte Lewis said: "Unfortunately we had one or two who were going around putting stickers on people's cars which we, as a movement, deplore.

"When I saw people doing it, I thought an apology was in order.

"We are always going to get the odd person come along who gets carried away. It's not something that we encourage people to do.

"The stickers are produced by SHAC but they're not meant to be stuck on personal property of members of the public or shop windows or people's houses."

But Sandford Parish Council chairman Nigel Northcott said the apology was not enough.

He said the protesters should make up for the damage and disquiet caused by doing community work in the area, such as picking litter from the streets.

He said: "These self-proclaimed anarchists are destroying our peace.

"They left graffiti on the Yamanouchi building and on the roads as well as stickers. That's malicious damage to other people's property.

"To publicly put up your hands and apologise is a bit thin when you consider how much fear they instill in people. There are some very vulnerable people living here.

"I would like to see a more positive gesture. They should come out and do some community service to demonstrate the commitment to the environment that they seem so passionate about."