A GROUP of veterans have joined forces in Bury town centre to protect the Robert Peel statue.

Former members of the Lancashire Fusiliers were spotted by the statue off Market Place on Saturday morning.

They were seen guarding the monument from vandalism after protests for the Black Lives Matter movement saw various other statues vandalised or pulled down across the country.

Sir Robert Peel, twice UK Prime Minister and founder of the British Conservative Party, was born in Bury, and is memorialised in the town for his work.