Imagine your city with huge metal barriers along the main streets. Imagine riot police in full gear, cafés and restaurants closed and boarded up, armoured cars and water cannons. Then imagine a small group of people marching between those barriers surrounded by the police for their own protection, having obscenties and objects hurled at them from the sidelines.

Myself and my daughter stumbled upon and witnessed this gay pride march in the otherwise beautiful city of Budapest last summer.

After having read bits of the current debate over Brighton Pride and whether it is being hijacked by families or other groups, I felt I must share this dreadful and haunting experience in order to give a sense of perspective.

We thankfully missed the violence that occurred earlier that day but we certainly felt, as Emily-Ann Elliott mentions in her article (Argus, August 14), “fortunate to live in a city where the majority of people are so accepting of others, regardless of their sexuality, race or religion”.

Enough said.

Sally Croucher

Rosslyn Road, Shoreham-by-Sea