I was travelling through Brighton station when it was being patrolled by police and security guards, which is to be expected during the Labour Party conference.

Just in front of me, two foreign tourists were stopped by the police, solely because they were carrying a video camera.

The police questioned them and, although they could understand what they were being asked, their faces showed they thought this was some kind of joke.

The police then watched through their private film footage in the middle of the station concourse and then appeared to issue them with a caution, taking down their details.

Is this what "security" means to the Government and the Labour Party? Whatever happened to civil liberties?

What kind of impression of Brighton are those tourists going to come away with and how many others will suffer a similar fate?

As tourism is one of Brighton's main sources of income, do we really want to drive them away with this heavy-handed approach?

Since when has it been a crime to own a video camera?

Is the disruption to normal life and the apparent police state that seems to have emerged during the week prior to the conference really worth it?

I'm sure I speak for Brightonians when I say we don't want the Labour conference in Brighton if this is the trouble it causes.

-Eamonn Ayass, Telscombe Cliffs