Up to 200 attend Hands Off Hove Park march and rally

Up to 200 people attended a march and rally organised by campaigners against Hove Park School becoming an academy.

Hands Off Hove Park demonstrators marched from the lawns next to King Alfred Leisure Centre to Hove Park, where there were speeches, songs, poetry, and comedy from Alasdair Smith, of the Anti Academies Alliance; Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion; Liz Ritson, the National Union of Teachers representative at Hove Park School, who said teachers would be taking strike action on the academy issue before the end of term; Robb Johnson, a singer; Attila the Stockbroker, the performance poet; Mark Steel, the comedian and journalist: and Shappi Khorsandi, the comedian.

The protest was planned as a (non-binding) ballot of parents is being conducted by Brighton and Hove City Council, before school governors make a decision in September on whether to seek academy status.