ANTI-BADGER cull campaigners will be allowed to protest peacefully – even if they are technically breaking the law, officers in the county's force have said.
Police said they can still only guess how many were intending to come to Gloucestershire to try to stop the shootings in the Forest of Dean and Tewkesbury.
But they said they are prepared for protests to escalate 'at all levels'.
Superintendent Jim McCarthy said they wanted to take a measured approach to dealing with opponents to the cull.
He added: "We have to ask 'what would the man on the street think'?
"It might not be lawful but it might be peaceful so let's have a measured response to it.
"For example, they may sit in the street for 15 minutes which is obstructing the road, but how many people would it take to pick them up and move them?"
He said animal activists are well known for using 'extreme actions'.
But he added that police officers across the county could be involved in policing the cull and will be able to 'scale up or down their responses' accordingly.
They will be closely monitoring Facebook, Twitter and other social media to track campaigners.
He added: "Our experience is that if people say there is going to be 1,000 people there, it will be closer to 300 or 400."
Assistant Chief Constable Richard Berry said there was no legal obligation for police to be informed when the cull began.
But over the past two weeks they have held face-to-face talks with protesters and organisations involved in the cull to try and ensure a 'no surprises approach' to policing it.
He said cull company Gloscon is responsible for the safety of shooters.
But police have had to consider possible offences such as illegal shooting outside of the cull zones, trespassing by protestors and public disorder, he added.
He said officers have all the experience and equipment necessary to deal with any violent outbursts or incidents in the dead of night.
"Right from the start we recognised we will be setting a precedent for policing and we are very much approaching it with an open mind," he said.