Hastings Borough Council has expressed its concern at the group who met to protest in the town’s Alexandra Park last Sunday.

Deputy leader of the council Councillor Colin Fitzgerald said: “I was very disappointed indeed to see the large group meeting in the park to protest on Sunday, finishing by dancing with joined hands. This was of course in direct contravention of the Covid rules.

“We all remember how the town did very well in the ‘first wave’ last year because of the hard work everybody did to comply, and then how difficult it became later in the year when the town suffered much more, with over 200 deaths, mainly because of the ‘Kent variant.’

“None of us want to go back to those awful days of December and January, and I would urge people to stay away from this kind of large gathering. If necessary we will have no hesitation at all in involving the police, but I hope that common sense will prevail. We have come so far, let’s not wreck our hard work now.”