At the peace demonstration in Brighton last Saturday, Public Order restrictions were imposed and hundreds of police drafted in from Sussex and Surrey.

One of the reasons given for the restrictions was that a serious racist assault against a Jewish person allegedly took place at a similar demo some three weeks ago.

I regard these allegations as very serious but the police are unwilling to clarify the circumstances of the assault - saying only that it was "racially motivated".

The only racist incident I saw on the first march was directed towards a protestor when a particularly ignorant young man lowered his car window and shouted "terrorist" at a demonstrator with olive skin, who understandably was quite upset by this insult but was calmed by fellow demonstrators including myself. Certainly, no assault took place.

I'm sure I speak for most on both marches when I say if we saw a serious, unprovoked racist assault of any kind, we would report it to the police ourselves.

If an assault did occur, why did the police not ask for witnesses, as many protestors must have seen the incident and would have been onlytoo pleased to assist?

The hugely insulting implication is that, as a group, we were somehow complicit in the alleged attack orwould withhold evidence if we witnessed such an incident.

Peace groups in Brighton abhor anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia and racial hatred of all kinds - indeed, on both marches, Jews, Muslims and Christians marched side by side against what we see as Israeli war crimes and terrorism in Lebanon and Palestine.

People must understand being pro or anti-Israeli is not equivalent to being pro or anti-Jewish.

Indeed, many Jewish people are opposed to the state of Israel.

The police should try to understand this distinction before they next mobilise huge numbers of officers onto the streets of Brighton at huge expense to the taxpayer.

  • Glenn Williams, Park Crescent Road, Brighton