I AM writing to ask if anyone else noticed something sinister in Lancaster on June 18?

I refer, of course, not to the carnival-type street theatre in the Market Square, nor the bike ride that held up the traffic, but to the overwhelming police presence in the city centre. The fact that it has taken me almost three weeks to write this letter indicates the level of discomfort that the police induced in me - a discomfort that leads me also to write under a pseudonym. As I walked around the city on June 18 I kept noticing not just lots of police, but police vans, riot vans, horses and dogs. Every time I passed the Market Square the police were video-taping the dancing antics of two sea-creatures, the handing out of free food, balloons and information leaflets (it seemed strange that they could afford to spend so much money on a street theatre documentary but not, for instance, in proper policing and protection of citizens such as Mal Hussain.) When I joined in with the cyclists - going out of town on the Caton Road - we were followed by far more vans and motorbikes than was surely necessary for a group of cyclists. Is it illegal to cycle in a group down the road? Was it dangerous? Did we need, perhaps, protection from all those 'evil' car drivers who, in their road rage, may have tried to kill us all? On the way back along the cycle path by the river, we were met first by four mounted police, then stopped in groups of three and four while a police camera snapped photos of every one of the cyclists. This felt very intimidating and threw many of us into a state of confusion - even fear - that was only heightened when, as we began to relax outside the pub (after the ride had ended) two riot vans, four horses and another van screeched their way into the pub car park. A gentleman watching the bike ride was heard to comment on the police presence, saying: "This wasn't the country I fought for in the war". Their heavy-handedness was even more discomforting as none of the police had numbers on their jackets, or could give an answer as to why not. I'd always thought that police numbers were a mark of the individual officers accountability to the public. I wonder if anyone else shares my concern that so many horses, riot vans, dogs and weapons were in anonymous hands that day, a day when, as far as I could see, no illegal activities were taking place. I wonder also if anyone else on the bike ride has also shied away from complaining due to the state of unease that we were thrown into due to the overwhelming police numbers and unnecessary photographs, taping. Perhaps the police would set my mind at rest that, the cyclists having proved themselves to be peaceful, decent and friendly citizens, the police photos of us will be destroyed and we can walk the streets feeling once more like free citizens. I hope so.

Concerned citizen.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.