EIGHTEEN police officers were in Hampshire were assaulted over the weekend.

Now the chairman of the Hampshire Police Federation John Apter has called for better protection for officers and stiffer sentences for anyone who attacks emergency workers including police.

Over the weekend 18 officers were spat at, kicked and punched and one officer ended up with a broken hand.

John Apter has described the attacks as "totally unacceptable" and said there needs to be more work done by the government and the courts to deter people from attacking police.

Mr Apter described the weekends figures as "one of the highest" he has seen.

Neither Mr Apter nor Hampshire Constabulary had further details about the assaults.

Earlier this year Simon Priest,41, was jailed for life after punching and kicking two police officers leaving them unconscious in an attack in Aldershot after officers arrived at a domestic incident.

Mr Apter said: "This is why I feel so strongly the public should understand the reality of the level of violence against my colleagues. We had an officer with a broken hand and others had been spat at and others kicked and punched.

"Being assaulted for a police officer is always a risk, but it should not become an occupational hazard where colleagues are out and about there to support and serve the public.

"They do not deserve the level of violence that is thrown at them every day by a minority of people."

"I am campaigning for stiffer sentences for anybody that assaults any emergency worker there must be consequences for the actions of these thugs who injure those that are there to protect them."

"The vast majority of the public support the police but there are certain elements of society that take advantage of the policing model that we have and find there is no consequence for there actions and we need to see the courts, the government and the Crown Prosecution Service to step up and enforce the toughest possible sentences."

He said that moral in the police force is currently low, due to a pay freeze and what he described as a "perfect storm" of increased workloads, a rise in assaults and what police officers believe to be a lack of support in government.

Mr Apter added: "The government has created a perfect storm. I speak to new recruits, and officers that have been in the job for many years.

Some they tell me they love the job but no-one is making it any easier.

"Some officers are saying to me that they have fallen out of love with the job because of the way they are treated by the government and the pressures and demands put on them. "Others have left to pursue other careers and that is sad."