As a supporter of the right to peaceful protest, I am deeply concerned by reports of incidents that have allegedly taken place outside Brighton and Hove’s Ecostream store.  

The store is the focus of protests because its parent company, Sodastream, operates a manufacturing plant in the Zone C area of occupied Palestine.

Regular demonstrations at the store have attracted counter protests from supporters of Ecostream, and of Israel’s policies in the Middle East.

I understand that the police are investigating and am confident those responsible will be held to account.

In the meantime, in light of the events that have been brought to my attention, I am calling on all those protesting at or near the store to reassert their commitment to doing so peacefully.

I utterly condemn the use of tactics such as verbal or physical intimidation, racist, anti Semitic or homophobic language, threatening behaviour and any form of violence by either side.  

So whilst the majority of protesters seem to be acting peacefully, I welcome the actions of the police in dealing with the minority who are not, including those individuals who may use the protests as an excuse to cause trouble.

UPDATE: Three specific incidents that allegedly took place on 26th January at the store were reported to me and I contacted the police to follow up. They have advised that none of the incidents involved protesters against Ecostream and that the protests "usually pass without incident".