NOTTINGHAM City Council has been forced to amend a controversial report which blamed an equality campaign group for "increasing tensions" during a protest.

The report, which criticised the role of the Council for Equality and Human Rights Nottingham and Notts (CEHRNN) during a hostile protest involving the English Defence League (EDL), contained an incorrect statement about the views of Notts Police.

In the report, the city council claimed that CEHRNN were "doing more to increase tensions than reduce them" at the protest last December.

The report then went on to say that this view had been shared by the police. But senior police officers denied making a formal complaint about CEHRNN.

The incorrect statement led CEHRNN chief executive Afzal Sadiq to lobby Assistant Chief Constable Ian Ackerley and Chief Superintendent Shaun Beebe.

Despite requests by senior police officers, in January and July, for the statement to be amended, it remained uncorrected on the council's website until earlier this week.

In a letter to the council before the amendment, Mr Ackerley wrote: "I refer to page 8 of the document which states 'Nonetheless, the general feeling shared by Nottingham City Council and the Police was that the CEHRNN's presence and strategy on December 5, 2009, was unhelpful and was contrary to that agreed by the local authority and its partners'.

"Mr Sadiq informs me that he specifically challenged Chief Superintendent Beebe over this point and was advised that no formal complaint had been made [regarding the EDL protest]." The consequences of the report include more than £300,000 of funding being cut from CEHRNN by the city council over the next three years.

CEHRNN staff remain angry because the council report still includes claims of a "general feeling" about the group's "unhelpful" presence.

A spokeswoman for CEHRNN alleged the council had played "political games".

The spokeswoman said: "An injustice has occurred and we want a formal apology from Michael Williams (the city council's corporate director for communities) and the author of that statement in the report."

Yesterday, Mr Williams said: "In view of the fact that no formal complaint had been made concerning the incident, we had already agreed to amend the impact statement.

"This had been done but unfortunately an earlier version was subsequently published.

"This has now been rectified. It does not affect our decision to withdraw funding from CEHRNN."