The lawful protest against the Oxford University animal research laboratory, which was organised with the police, appeared to have been sabotaged by them.

The planned route was deliberately altered without warning which understandably made people angry.

I would ask readers to listen to the recording (on the Speak website at www.speakcampaigns.org.uk) of the planning meeting with the police, during which the officer says: "You are going to the site, it would be unreasonable to say that you can't go."

As barriers were placed across the road to prevent people going anywhere near the site, readers can judge for themselves who was to blame for any disturbances that might have occurred.

This campaign is not against the police. It is against the planned building of a cruel and barbaric animal research laboratory which will include non-human primates.

So why do the police arouse hostility by appearing to act as a private security force for Oxford University?

Surely, the organised provocation by the police on this occasion serves only to invite the very actions we strive to avoid. J Thomspon, Cambridge