"Throwing bricks at police stations and council officials...can never be an acceptable form of protest" writes John Parry (The Argus, March 21).

According to him, we should stop protesting altogether now war has begun, although I suppose throwing infinitely larger explosive devices at Baghdad, inevitably killing many whose only crime is to be Iraqi, is entirely acceptable.

Mr Parry holds up the protests against the Vietnam war as an example of the "bitter scars" soldiers can suffer when people protest against a war in progress.

But at least those affected were not dead.

They might well have been had those actions not convinced Nixon to withdraw.

Just suppose "shock and awe" was directed against our city. Are there any circumstances in which Mr Parry would condemn those who chose to condemn such a bombing?

He tells us, echoing Israeli propaganda, that it's quite different with us because we are a democracy.

Alas, liberal democracy is quietly transforming itself into a kind of democratic fascism.

Its motto is: "Might is right and let the people know it." If I were hungry for power, I would choose this system any day.

You can do pretty well what you like and claim you represent the people. Tyrants, on the other hand, are targets.

-Dr Francis Clark-Lowes, Brighton and Hove Palestine Solidarity Campaign