HEADLINE: SHOW US FILES ON ALIENS, SAY DEMONSTRATORS

BYLINE: Keith Manning, PA News

BODY: The Government is keeping secret files on sightings of aliens in Brita in, demonstrators outside the House of Commons claimed today. About 20 placard-carrying UFO watchers called on ministers to release the files.

The demonstration was organised by the group Operation Right To Know whose UK co-ordinator John Holman said of the sightings: "There is more and more documentation - radio tapes, radar tapes and video footage and they are no t all misidentifications." Mr Holman, a 46-year-old industrial designer, s aid there was a great deal of public interest in the subject. "There must be nearly 100 UFO groups in the country. "In America, 57% of the populati on accept there are UFOs which are something other than human. "What we are after are t he military reports and pilot reports which have been collected over 50 years We want to know what the military assessments are and what recommendations we re made to Government. "We are not in a Cold War situation now, so why should UFOs be deemed a threat?" Mr Holman said reports of a UFO landing clos e to aUS base near Woodbridge in Suffolk 15 years ago was withheld by the Government, but surfaced in America under the Freedom of Information Act.

He stressed: "I am as sceptical as the next person, but when I see video tapes and I don't know what they are - they are not balloons and they are not aircraft - I want to know." He also cited a Belgian military report from pilots who, in 1990, reported their jet had been "buzzed" by a UFO which accelerated from 150 knotsto 990 knots in seconds, beyond the endurance of human beings. "The Belgians made this report public, so why can't our Government release their reports ?" said Mr Holman. He added that Operation Right To Know supported Nick Pope , an MoD official who worked for four years in the area of UFOs and who belie ved intheir existence.

Among the demonstrators was Gordon Ormond, 46, a classical guitarist fr om Doncaster, who formed a UFO research group three years ago. He said: "I thinkone of the reasons why the Government keeps these reports from us is because it believes the British are psychologically unprepared. "The inf ormation should be made available to the British people, as it is in America under the Freedom of Information Act." Mr Ormond added: "I have been interested in UFOs fo r 35 years and I have collected many reports. "It's really only through experi ence over a period of time that you get a better idea of what people are talking about so you can go out and examine the evidence and try to make something of it." Phillip Lambro, a composer from Los Angeles and a member of the Raeli an Movement, whose aim is to create an embassy for extra terrestrials, was al so among the demonstrators outside the Commons. He said: "Since 1954 there h ave been 50 million reports worldwide of UFO sightings. "What people have to understand is that there are advanced intelligent beings who are able to co-operate in a way which we on Earth seem unable to do. "We live in a so ap opera mentality and we've got to get beyond that."