REFUGEES are demanding better protection from police after a knife attack on an asylum seeker.

The 31-year-old Iranian was stabbed in the back and arm by two men in Sunderland city centre on Thursday night, in what police described as a racially-motivated assault.

After the attack, dozens of refugees took to the streets in the first of a series of peaceful protests.

They are demanding better protection from police and other authorities, saying they have already fled their homelands to escape persecution.

Sunderland's 1,000 refugees say they now face new fears of attacks by racist thugs.

Police, who have launched an investigation to track down the two men behind the stabbing, say they are doing everything they can to cater for the needs of refugees.