Tony Blair, during his conference speech, smugly informed a war protester he was lucky to live in a society where the right to protest exists.

He didn't say what can happen if you exercise this right. That protester was frog-marched out and put into a police van.

I was arrested, as shown on page 3 of The Argus on Wednesday on the same day for destroying a placard handed to me by a hunt supporter.

I am not a hunt supporter. I believe there is no place for such activity in a civilised 21st Century society. I was arrested under section 5(1) a of The Public Order Act 1986.

I was not violent. I was not threatening and I was not abusive. I do not support such activity. I destroyed a placard in public. That is what I did.

If arrested you will be held for many hours (seven in my case) in a police van and then a police cell with blinding lights. You will be intimately searched, more than once in my case and in public too.

You will have all your possessions removed and checked. You will have your finger and palm prints taken. You will have your DNA taken, with two scrapings from inside your mouth, forcibly if necessary.

You will be denied access to a phone until you reach the cell. You will be denied access to a toilet until then also.

You will then be given a fixed penalty notice of £80 to pay within 21 days and if you choose to challenge it in court, "You will have it doubled", the kindly duty sergeant informed me.

You will also then have a criminal record.

I am a teacher and cannot afford to have a record of this kind. I therefore have to pay the fine despite denying the charge laid against me.

The charge was I used "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby".

I did not do these things.

Next time Tony Blair reminds us of our right to protest I hope someone in the Press reminds us what might happen if we do.

-Heather Tait, Lewes