Unable to access assets folder in CI

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
My directory structure is as follows:

> -application
> -system
> -assets
> --images
> --downloads
> --css
> index.php

I created assets as suggested on stackoverflow,I wanted to restrict access to downloads so placed .htaccess file in assets folder with the following directive

Code:

Deny from all

now its protected but as `assets` has `css` files and those are also not accessible too.