A GROUP which pulled out of this year's Kirklees Mela after helping to organise the spectacular cultural celebration for a decade will stage a protest at Sunday's event.

Members of the South Asian Arts Forum accuse Kirklees Council's cultural services department of institutional racism and say the council has downgraded the flagship Mela.

Last year's event, which attracted 25,000 visitors to Huddersfield's Greenhead Park, was shut down about two hours early without consulting members of the forum.

"Things have been building up in terms of tension between the South Asian Arts Forum and cultural services and those things haven't been able to be resolved," said forum member Parmjit Kaur.

"The person responsible for health and safety for the event last year basically said he was concerned there were going to be fights.

"He said he was feeling nervous from about lunchtime," she added.

Talks between the two groups have foundered ever since that incident.

"If something went wrong last year - and we still don't know what it is - how can we plan for this year?" asked Miss Kaur.

"Decisions were taken that probably should have been dealt with totally differently."

The day usually takes four months to plan, with organisers meeting as early as January.

This year, cultural services officials approached the forum, which has about 200 members, only in June.

Forum members say that was a slap in the face.

They want to show their anger and frustration on Sunday with a peaceful protest.

"I think some officers don't give a damn," said Miss Kaur.

"After the Mela the South Asian Arts Forum will sit and discuss what they want to do. It may be they don't want to get involved with the local authority.

"I think that as an organisation we will look at how we work with cultural services."