Police used pepper spray to break up violent clashes between pro and anti fox hunters.

Officers had to step in when about 25 hunt saboteurs clashed with members of the Crawley and Horsham Hunt at Wiston, near Steyning.

The protesters claimed huntsman rode at saboteurs as three fights broke out.

A spokeswoman for the Hunt Saboteurs Association claimed hunters had also tried to break a vehicle's window.

Both sides deny wrong-doing and have passed on their own video footage of the incident, on Saturday, to police.

It is the latest in a series of flare-ups between the Crawley and Horsham Hunt and fox-hunting protesters.

Last month The Argus reported that police were investigating the hunt over allegations of illegal hunting after a fox was killed by hounds.