Lord Gage's plea for clemency (The Argus, November 17) for the members of Firle Bonfire Society shows either extreme complacency or extreme ignorance of the seriousness of burning a caravan containing effigies of travellers.

He says there was "no real or contrived malice" in the bonfire. Would Lord Gage act as an apologist for those involved in this disgusting incident or regard it as "just a bit of over-exuberance" if the group targeted for symbolic public burning had been black, Asian or other minority?

The chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality recently spoke of the appalling levels of discrimination faced by Gipsies and travellers.

He stated: "For this group, Great Britain is like the American Deep South for black people in the 1950s."

Does Lord Gage attempt to justify this revolting incident when he says the travellers had left a "hell of a mess" on his land?

The act of burning, symbolic or otherwise, is the most intimidating act of racial hatred. The Ku Klux Klan's burning crosses extended to the burning of homes and burning their victims alive.

The Serbs burned homes in their acts of "ethnic cleansing". In Rwanda, churches full of worshippers were set alight and the doors blocked to prevent escape.

I hope the Crown Prosecution Service obtains sufficient evidence against the alleged conspirators and perpetrators of this incident and that the courts make an example of them to demonstrate that horrific acts of racism will not be tolerated in a civilised society.

-Leslie Carr, Hove