HEREFORDSHIRE'S travelling community has hit out at the organisers of a bonfire party who burnt an effigy of gipsies inside a model caravan.

Jane Marshall, from Tarrington, was outraged at the incident in East Sussex and has organised a petition that is being sent to the Police force dealing with the case.

Mrs Marshall, who was born in a wagon and has lived in Herefordshire all her life, believes many people are still ignorant about the gipsy culture.

"I am from a gipsy family and I know loads of gipsies, who were all disgusted at the happenings in Sussex, and have signed my petition," she said.

"We hope we can be noted and respected as a race. We have a culture and we are not going to tolerate persecution because we are an equal part of society.

"A lot of people have no understanding of our culture and there is a big travelling community here in Herefordshire."

Mary Horner, of Credenhill, whose mother and father were Romany gipsies, has also spoken out against the organisers of the bonfire party in Firle in East Sussex.

In the parade itself, a caravan with the fake registration number P1KEY was dragged through the village with painted pictures of a gipsy family peering through the windows. The parade was organised by the Firle Bonfire Society and ended in the model caravan being set alight.

Mrs Horner is spokesperson for the travelling community in Hereford-shire, who fear the incident could incite racial hatred.

She spoke with a group of travellers from Herefordshire at the home of Liz and Owen Florence in Ledbury.

Neville Meredith, race equality development officer for the county, who attended, said: "We have a number of issues in Hereford that I would prefer to concentrate on, but it was very positive to meet a number of different travellers at once and see them so galvanised."

Concerns

Mrs Horner is sending the petition, 'Stop Race On Our Culture as Gipsies', to Sussex Police.

Mrs Horner, a founder member of the non-political Romany & Traveller Family History Society, said: "I have never lived on a site but I still feel very close to gipsy families. My father was from a travelling family in London and my mother came from a Hereford travelling family.

"This is something close to my heart and gipsy families in Herefordshire feel very strongly."

Mrs Horner added: "So many people have contacted me to express their concerns. "

Eleven people have been questioned by Sussex police about the incident and released on bail.