Around £3,000 of damage has forced a community centre to close for at least a week following violent clashes at a Sikh protest in the Black Country.

Sikh community leaders today condemned the actions of members of the UK Sangat group which helped organise a protest at the Sikh Cultural Centre in Dudley.

Trouble flared when more than 200 people gathered to protest against meat and alcohol being served at a private function on Saturday. A police officer and two other people were injured.

Trustees and managers at the community centre claimed that no meat was being served and only vegetarian food was being prepared on the day.

But they admitted some barrels of beer were at the centre for a private birthday party attended by guests of other faiths.

The protest had been advertised on social media websites and internet forums as being organised by the UK Sangat group.

The group has launched a national campaign against Gurdwara which they claim have not been adhering to Sikh principles by allowing meat and alcohol to be served on their premises.

But the centre manager Sucha Singh said the cultural centre had been partly funded by Dudley Council money and under the terms of its operation was run as an all-faith venue.

Trustees said one group which regularly met at the centre has cancelled all future bookings because of the fear of further reprisals.

They claimed the centre could close unless new bookings to recoup lost earnings  are made.

“We wanted to get the message out there that the whole of the Dudley Sikh community is united and these people protesting are outsiders and not connected to us,” Mr Singh said.

Metal railings outside had been torn up as a lock on the main gate was snapped off allowing protestors inside the complex. Two outdoor plant pots were smashed with one being hurled through a window.

Protesters had been able to get inside the kitchens where boiling hot pans of food and oil were pushed over and work surfaces sent flying in the chaos.

Police are trawling through CCTV taken inside and outside the building in a bid to identify the culprits.