ANTI-RACISTS said they would be on their guard against an upturn in racial hatred caused by the New York terror attack at the opening of a new campaign base in Durham City yesterday.

The campaigners also said that they would be doing their bit to ensure that increased activity by the British National Party in Sunderland would not damage race-relations in the area.

The headquarters of the Darlington and County Durham Race Equality Council, located next to Durham MP's Gerry Steinberg's office in Claypath, will be rent-free, courtesy of Durham City Council.

The group has extended its activities after receiving a grant of £214,000 from the Government-backed Commission for Racial Equality earlier this year.

In a speech, chairman of the group Pat Poinen said: "We are all aware of what has happened recently and we have to make sure that it does not affect our county, our town, or our village."

Beverley Prevatt Goldstein said there had been "an uneasy atmosphere" since the attacks on the US.

The director of North-East-wide group the Black Ethnic- Minority Community Organisation Network (Becon) said: "There is a certain uneasiness and I wasn't surprised about that attack on the mosque in South Shields at the weekend. I think it gives people an excuse but, of course, there will always be excuses.

"Race relations in the North-East have never been that great in any case so I would say this is like a wobble rather than a setback.

"Obviously, nobody is going to walk around with the word 'Arab' tattooed to their forehead, but it does make people uneasy."

A spokesman for the group said the non-white community in the county accounted for about one per cent of the population based on 1991 figures. But members of the ethnic community in isolated areas often receive more abuse than those elsewhere.