Remembering the Admiral Duncan bombing

The scene outside the Admiral Duncan minutes after the bomb went off

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Admiral Duncan nail bomb attack on April 30th 1999 in Soho.

It was one of three nail bomb attacks and killed three people, while 80 were injured. While the incidents in Brixton and Brick Lane were targeted directly towards ethnic minorities, the Admiral Duncan bombing was a vicious attack intended to kill gay people. The bomb detonated in the busy pub at 6.37pm. The location was an obvious choice for bomber David Copeland due to its location in Old Compton Street, at the heart of London's gay community. Allegedly, it was the first gay pub chosen from an alphabetical list.

One witness described the scene as "absolute carnage", with several people blown out of the pub into the street. What made the situation even more frightening, was that no warning was given and many were anxious that another explosion was set to go off, causing panic in the streets. Many injured were treated on the roadside, while others fled the area.

At the time, many gay people had seen the area of Old Compton Street as a safe haven where they could socialise without fear of homophobic attacks. The explosion inevitably changed all this and highlighted the prejudice inherent in society that many had forgotten existed. Peter Tatchell summed this view up after the attack, saying: "This outrage has destroyed that cosy assumption."

Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Alan Fry, head of the Metropolitan Police's anti-terrorist branch, said that when officers arrived at the scene they were confronted by utter devastation. He said: "It was an horrendous scene. It was a complete wreck."

The device exploded at the start of a bank holiday weekend so the Old Compton Street area had been heaving with people. It was a pre-mediated attack in which the aim was to hurt and kill as many gay people as possible.

Copeland, a former BNP member and neo-Nazi, was so fuelled by hate that he did not consider integration in any of his attacks. In this, where he thought he would be attacking specific groups because the areas he targeted were known to be either gay areas, or ethnic areas, he faltered. In all three attacks, he injured whites and straight people.

One of these was Andrea Dykes, 27, who was four months pregnant. She was was instantly killed while enjoying pre-theatre drinks at the Admiral Pub and her husband was one of those seriously injured. Their friend, Nik Moorem, 31, was also killed and the best man at their wedding, John Light, 32, later died in hospital.

There is now a memorial and a plaque in the pub to commemorate those injured and killed in the blast.

The explosions were set off by David Copeland, then 22, whose objective was to wage a war against ethnic minorities and gay people in Britain. He was arrested at his flat in Sunnybank Road, Farnborough, where police found Nazi flags and a poster of Adolf Hitler in the middle of a collage of photos of bomb victims. He is currently serving six life sentences in Broadmoor Hospital at Crowthorne.

In March 2007, the High Court ruled Copeland could not be released before 2049, when he will be 73. The initial sentence ordered him to spend at least 30 years behind bars but this was extended due to what the High Court judge described as the case’s “exceptional gravity”.

One year on from the tragedy, in 2000, a memorial service was held at St Anne's church nearby to mark the anniversary of the bomb, an event which has been carried out ever since. A trio of cherry trees were planted on the church grounds in dedication to Andrea Dykes, John Light and Nik Moorem. The trees symbolised the three local London communities: Soho, Brick Lane, and Brixton, which were left in chaos by the three nail bombings. Today, the Admiral Duncan will remember the tenth anniversary of the bombing.

There will be a two-minute silence at 6.37 pm at St Anne's Gardens, which will stay open until 7.30pm for those wishing to pay their respects. The Rector of St Anne's Chruch will also say a few words for families and friends.

Pink News

Leafleting at Corsham and Braintree

Corsham - May 9th

Anti-BNP Leafleting of Corsham. Meet 10:00 am Saturday 9th May at Corsham Fire Station, Beechfield Road, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 9DN Organised by Wiltshire Trade Unions.

Corsham is the local hot spot for the BNP in the West Country

• they have a town councillor there (elected unopposed)
• they have a relatively large and active branch
• Corsham resident Mike Howson is national youth officer for the BNP
• they have announced their intention to stand in the new Chippenham constituency for the general election (which includes Corsham), where the Tories have a black candidate
• in March this year, they held a regional meeting of 90 BNP activists in Corsham Community Centre

We are hoping to leaflet as much of the town as possible on Saturday May 9th. Please pass this message on, and encourage other trade unionists to attend.

The BNP do have a base there, but it is very fragile and we hope to isolate and demoralise them

• in a by election last year they got only 7% of the vote
• key BNP activists are barred from many of the town's pubs
• the extremism of Corsham BNP has driven more moderate members of the BNP out of the organisation

Braintree - May 2nd

Also, we will be leafleting against the BNP in Braintree on Saturday 2 May. From 10am until 1pm at Bank Street

Please come along and help

Austrian author guilty of glorifying Nazi era sentenced to 5 jail years

Gerd Honsik

A right-wing Austrian author was found guilty Monday of glorifying the Nazi era and sentenced to five years in prison. Appeals were lodged both by the defense lawyer of Gerd Honsik and by the public prosecutor, who found the sentence too mild.

Honsik, 67, was found guilty of "Wiederbetaetigung" - which means "re-engaging" in Nazi era beliefs. The crime is punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Honsik wrote a book, "Hitler Innocent?," in which he attempted to justify some Nazi-era crimes.

He was originally convicted of neo-Nazi activities in 1992 for writings that defended Adolf Hitler's Third Reich, but he fled to Spain, where authorities arrested him in October 2007 and subsequently extradited him. Between 1986 and 1989, Honsik published writings disputing that the Nazis killed millions of Jews at Auschwitz and other concentration camps during World War II.

Austrian authorities have said they suspect him of committing similar offenses since Austria enacted a landmark 1992 law making it a crime to deny the Holocaust or promote Nazi propaganda.

Jewish World

CCTV call after yobs smash gravestones

Yobs desecrated Jewish and Muslim gravestones in a spate of vandalism in Preston Cemetery.

Headstones were smashed in half and pushed to the ground and there are calls for CCTV cameras to catch the vandals.

Louts targeted the Hebrew and Muslim sections of the New Hall Lane site with some graves dating back to 1925 damaged.

In the Muslim section, stones were toppled while memorial areas were trampled on and flowers ripped out.

Yobs are believed to have climbed into the cemetery before jumping over separate fences.

Police today said the vandalism was "indiscriminate" and not deliberately anti-Semitic or anti-Muslim.

But Iqbal Adam, chairman of Preston's Muslim Burial Society, said of the vandals: "They are not being civilised – they don't have feelings for anybody. They just make fun out of it – it's pretty bad.

"These gravestones are people and they are memories for the families. I feel very sorry for the families.It would be much better if they had CCTV."

Mr Adam – who said nothing had been sprayed on the damaged gravestones to suggest it was a racist attack – said work had begun to repair the damage.

Graham Lewis, trustee of the Preston Hebrew Congregation, said: "We are very distressed and for the families concerned who are very upset."

When asked if the attacks were racially motivated, he said: "I don't know. Given there was damage to the Muslim section and the Jewish section, it does not appear to be a deliberate target only to the Jewish community."

Det Insp Dave McKenna said: "They have damaged confined areas in the cemetery and pushed over some headstones in the Jewish and Muslim sections.

"We've been investigating and there is no suggestion of any racist overtones. We just think it's indiscriminate vandalism. We will be looking to take preventative measures in the future, such as CCTV.
"And we're appealing for anyone with information to get in touch."

A Preston Council spokesman said: "Since we began locking the main cemetery gates two and a half years ago, incidents of vandalism have decreased by 50%.

"Since this unfortunate incident we have begun closing the gates to the Hebrew and Muslim sections to act as a further deterrent. We are also in the process of applying for funding for cemetery railings which would further increase security.

"The issue of CCTV is one which we have looked into, however we do not believe it is feasible for a number of reasons.

"There are huge costs involved, the large number of surrounding trees make it impossible for all areas to be covered by cameras but, most importantly, people feel they are intrusive and the cemetery is a place that should be private."

Lancashire Evening Post

King of the boring bastards

Picture taken from Darbys Blog

It is a well known fact that the deputy leader of the BNP Simon Darby is a boring bastard.

However today Darby has reached an all time low when it comes to the dullard stakes.

On his tedious personal blog Darby normally displays pictures of dead animals and various pieces of flotsam and jetsam he finds littered around his house in Wales.

But today Darby being BNP bore in chief decided to tell the nation he had bought toothpaste and toothbrushes with a Boots voucher.

I kid you not....

Quite why Dickhead Darby felt the need to share this moment of tedium with the nation is unclear, However it clearly illustrates that Darby is clearly the BNP king of the boring bastards.

Neo-Nazis getting more 'aggressive'

Official statistics indicate that more German youth are joining neo-Nazi groups As a former skinhead who quit the German neo-Nazi movement, Matthias Adrian has an insider's knowledge of how far right groups operate. Now working to help other German youth leave neo-Nazi groups, he receives first-hand intelligence on what his former comrades are up to. And he says the news is disturbing. ''I've had a feeling for about the last half a year that they were getting more aggressive,'' Adrian says. ''There's a part of the right wing extremist scene that's had one foot on the gas and the other on the brake and now they think it's time to loosen the brake.'' A good example of the right wing flexing their muscles was seen in February when a record 6,000 neo-Nazis marched to commemorate the Allied bombing of Dresden during the second world war. After the march, a gang of neo-Nazis attacked anti-fascist counter-demonstrators at a motorway stop, leaving five injured, including one man with a severe skull fracture. ''They were very aggressive,'' says unionist Holger Kindler, who was among the witnesses. ''It was a Nazi crew that was very political not just subcultural. They weren't satisfied with walking through Dresden.'' "Autonome nationalisten" The neo-Nazi attack in February was not the work of the typical beer-swilling skinheads but of a group known as ''autonome nationalisten'' or free nationalists - a radical, political segment of the far right that is growing in number and, experts fear, poised to create a new wave of violence. The message from people fighting Nazism - and backed up by a growing stack of statistics - is that far right attitudes are strengthening in Germany, with unpredictable and potentially explosive consequences. In 2008, the authorities recorded a 30 per cent rise in crimes committed by far right groups. In March, a government-commissioned study revealed that a staggering one in 20 boys aged 15 belonged to a far right organisation - a higher proportion than are involved in mainstream politics. The worry is that with Germany heading into its worst recession since the second world war, the far right will exploit frustration and anger just as Adolf Hitler used the Great Depression to catapult himself into power. ''Right wing parties will use the financial crisis for propaganda, channelling fury about social and economic injustice into racist and nationalistic attitudes,'' says Alexander Haeusler, who studies the far right at Duesseldorf Technical College. ''They are already printing topical pamphlets about the financial crisis.'' Seeking election gains Dissent within neo-Nazi groups could spawn more radical elements, experts say On the back of this discontent, far right parties will be looking to make gains in Germany's looming state and federal elections. Complicating matters, however, is the current self-immolation of the National Democratic Party (NPD), the biggest far right party and for many years the backbone of the movement. An embezzlement scandal has left the party almost broke with a 2.2 million -euro fine to pay by May 1. In addition, it has been battered by internal rivalries and ideological rifts that culminated in early April in an unsuccessful challenge to its drab, uncharismatic leader, Udo Voigt, who epitomises the popular impression that the NPD is being led by ineffectual, old men nostalgic for the 1930s. Observers fear that this upheaval is giving birth to unpredictable, and therefore more dangerous, splinter groups. In the past, the NPD courted neo-Nazi groups known as ''Kameradschaften'' or Brotherhoods, using them as grassroots muscle to win seats in state and local elections. The NPD, extreme though it is, curbed the most violent impulses of the Brotherhoods because violence turned away voters. Rise of the nationalists But many of these Brotherhoods have become disillusioned with democratic politics and are splitting away, experts say. Hence the rise of the ''free nationalists'' such as those who attacked their opponents after the Dresden march. ''They have no organisation behind them so they can do whatever they want without responsibilities,'' says Matthias Adrian. ''All those people who want to be violent ... that's now their playground.'' The alternative danger, observers warn, is that the shakeup in the far right will produce a reinvigorated movement with fresh faces and savvy minds at the top. ''At the moment, the NPD is its own worst enemy,'' says Stephen Kramer, the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany. ''But if they get a smart leader, someone like [the late Austrian far right leader] Joerg Haider, then we're in real trouble.'' Al Jazeera

Darwen Tories in BNP 'blunder'

A FORMER British National Party activist was invited to stand as a Conservative councillor in an ‘alarming blunder’.

But the Conservatives are now taking steps to expel Nick Holt from the party as officials launch an investigation into how he came to be on a shortlist for Darwen Town Council.

Mr Holt, who said he would never renounce the BNP’s principles, said he laughed out of surprise when he was asked.

He stood for the BNP at the last general election, ran the party’s Blackburn office until 2006 and last year stood for another far-right party, England First.

Despite his past, Mr Holt said he had been contacted two months ago by a “long-standing member” who invited him to join the Tory party with a view to standing for the council.

But it is understood Conservative HQ this week stepped in and suspended Mr Holt from the party.

The Darwen and Rossendale Conservative Association has started an investigation in a bid to discover how Mr Holt reached the shortlist for the town council, which is being created after elections in June.

East Lancashire’s sole Conservative MP Nigel Evans said he was “alarmed” that Mr Holt, who polled 2,263 to finish fourth in 2005’s general election, had even been considered as a Tory candidate.

The Ribble Valley MP said officials needed to look at party procedures to ‘close any loopholes’.

He said: “The fact that he’s not renounced the BNP principles says it all.

“That someone was able to get so far in a nomination process who holds distasteful beliefs is alarming.

“He clearly didn’t get enough votes as a BNP candidate so tried to seek refuge in our party.”

A spokesman for Conservative Party central office said: "As soon as Mr Holt's history with the BNP was discovered by the party action was taken to immediately suspend him from the party with the intention of expelling him.”

Mr Holt told of his shock at being approached.

He said: “I had no real interest in the town council but they sort of sold it to me.

“I thought I was standing up until Tuesday.

“I was a little bit surprised they asked me. I never volunteered it.

“I still subscribe to the BNP’s principles, but I was taking a break from it. When the Conservatives approached me it seemed like the right thing to do. But I have never renounced the BNP and I never would.

“They were happy to have me. I laughed at first but they persuaded me.”

The Darwen branch of the local Conservative Party, which is organising the town council campaign, said all local party members had been invited to stand, but a final shortlist had not yet been produced.

Peter Steen, the chairman of Rossendale and Darwen Conservatives, said: “At this moment his membership has been suspended.

“I have called an executive meeting for the next seven days to discuss this. Investigation are ongoing and until they are complete I cannot comment.”

Labour group leader Kate Hollern said: “This is unbelievable. They must have known about his background. They must be so desperate to get in that they’ll stand anyone.”

Fernhurst councillor John Slater, of Darwen Conservatives, said Mr Holt had told them he agreed with the Tories’ stance on the issue of English MPs voting on issues only affecting England.

He said he had not invited Mr Holt to join the party, but was not aware whether another local member had done so.

Coun Slater said: “He is a member of the Conservative Party, but there’s an incubation period for new members and he recently stood for another party.

“I have not given him any impression that he would be selected whatsoever.”

This is Lancashire

BNP candidate for Europe elections arrested on suspicion of selling illegal firearms

David Lucas the Suffolk farmer who built gallows for export has been arrested just weeks after the BNP chose him as a candidate for the European elections

A BNP candidate for the European elections has been arrested on suspicion of selling illegal firearms.

David Lucas, 48, who supports capital punishment and makes gallows for sale abroad, was arrested at his mother’s home in Suffolk on Thursday.

He has been released on bail. BNP officials said Lucas would still stand in the election on June 4.

Daily Mail

Czech police arrest former Ku Klux Klan leader Duke

Duke was to give three lectures in the Czech Republic. The first was to take place at Prague's Charles University, but the university has banned it.

Prague - The Czech police arrested David Duke, former leader of the Ku Klux Klan racist movement, in Prague today on suspicion of promotion of movements seeking suppression of human rights, Prague police spokesman told CTK.

Arriving in the Czech Republic at the invitation of local neo-Nazis, Duke was to give lectures in Prague and Brno.

Duke, a U.S. citizen, is suspected of denying or approving of the Nazi genocide and other Nazi crimes. This crime is punishable by up to three years in prison in the Czech Republic.

According to an Internet text signed by Filip Vavra, who is linked to the neo-Nazi National Resistance group, Duke has visited the Czech Republic in order to promote his book My Awakening.

Czech lawyer Klara Kalibova said some passages of the book can be interpreted as an effort at justifying or challenging the Holocaust.

Czech police are reportedly focusing on the book as well.

The other two lectures were to be held in the centre of Prague on Saturday and in Brno, capital of Moravia, on Sunday, according to the website presenting Duke's visit.

Some Czech politicians assessed Duke's visit negatively earlier this week. Disapproving stand in this respect has been expressed by Interior Minister Ivan Langer and Human Rights and Minorities Minister Michael Kocab.

www.ctk.cz

Fighting, burn-out and depression: life as a BNP activist

Leaked document reveals how the far-right party is showing signs of strain in the run-up to elections

Senior members of the British National Party are "burning out", a leaked document drawn up by leaders of the far-right organisation has revealed.

Long-serving activists are prone to fits of depression, picking fights with other members and "irrational or erratic behaviour", the BNP party manual says. It tells members how to spot someone with signs of "burn-out" and reveals that the BNP is dogged by in-fighting.

The details will come as some comfort to MPs who have cautioned that the BNP poses its biggest electoral threat for years as it attempts to capitalise on economic hardship.

Harriet Harman, spearheading Labour's local and European election campaign for 4 June, said that many people were not aware that the BNP was fielding such a large number of candidates.

This month the BNP took second place in a council by-election in Manchester.

Under the heading "Burn Out" the activists' and organisers' handbook, which was leaked to the anti-fascist organisation Searchlight, reads: "Occasionally, a previously hard-working and constructive activist or official will 'burn out' and either go into an inactive fit of depression or, even worse, will start picking fights with colleagues or the leadership as an 'excuse' to drop out.

"The little factional squabbles that break out every few years in all political organisations always act of [sic] magnets to people in this unfortunate position. Although it's not very common, because we have so many officials doing so many great jobs, it's inevitable that a few will always be vulnerable." Signs of burn-out include "raised levels of irritability, irrational or erratic behaviour, depression and loss of hope".

The manual goes on: "If it happens to you, if by chance the time should come when you've had enough and have nothing more to offer, then please, please don't undo all the good work you've done and lose the friendship of people who have come to trust and admire you.

"Instead of picking fights or blaming other people for your decision to go, just tell your most trusted colleagues that you need some time out, shake hands and walk away with your head held high. That way you'll be welcome back at any time you want to get involved again, and in any case you can always be proud of your past efforts."

The booklet also warns activists not to set up official party blogs because "they can't write proper English" and describes some members as "oddballs".

A Searchlight spokesman said: "Everyone knows BNP members are irrational, erratic, hopeless people who like picking fights and blaming others, but it's surprising to hear them described that way in their own training manual.

"This proves that if any of this rabble were to be elected they wouldn't be fighting Britain's corner in Europe; they'd be fighting each other."

The Independent

Lessons from Wanstead

The excellent and hard-hitting 'Wanstead Matters' leaflet

The British National Party’s decision to fight a Redbridge Council by-election in Wanstead threw a huge rock into the local political pool. John Evans, who is also on the BNP’s list for the European election in London, came a poor fifth out of six candidates, with only 4.9% of the vote. There are important lessons to be learned from the campaign in this east London borough, where the BNP has one councillor.

Two issues caused controversy even among anti-fascists. The first was whether it was right to oppose the BNP’s participation in a local hustings meeting, where the other five candidates would have had to share a platform with the BNP. The second was how tough anti-BNP leaflets should be.

There is a well established principle that goes beyond the anti-fascist movement that decent people do not share platforms or debate with fascists, racists and nazis, whether at universities, during elections or elsewhere. The main reasons are that one cannot debate with people of such abhorrent views, and one cannot have a sensible debate with liars. Most of the democratic parties would not be seen dead with the BNP.

Labour has been largely solid on the issue. The Conservatives have been less certain but in recent years leading Conservatives, including members of the Shadow Cabinet, have taken a firm and very public anti-BNP line. Lib Dem views vary and some people in the Green Party seem to have difficulty making up their minds.

The Churches have taken a more vigorous line against the BNP and thrown them out of hustings held in church buildings. Recently church officers had the BNP removed from church property in Brentwood and the Cathedral grounds in Lichfield.

Three local organisations – the Wanstead Society, Counties Residents’ Association and Counties Neighbourhood Watch – had organised a hustings for the week before polling day. All six candidates were invited.

Searchlight contacted people in the local political parties to establish that they would refuse to share a platform with the BNP. The young Labour candidate, Ross Hatfull, responded quickly by calling for the other candidates to join him in stopping the BNP from taking part.

The Liberal Democrat told us that she was reluctant to share a platform with the BNP, especially after she had personally seen the BNP’s aggressive behaviour while out leafleting, The Conservative candidate stated he was prepared to sit down with the BNP and, perhaps most shockingly, the Green candidate who has been active in local anti-racist politics took the view that he could win any debate against Evans, which is not the point.

Ross’s brave stance caused the hustings to collapse, as the organisers were unwilling to exclude the BNP. Even within the Labour Party opinions were divided. One member I spoke to appeared to be more concerned about finding himself in an embarrassing position when he next attended a Wanstead Society meeting. Others were worried that there might be far-right infiltration in the society.

As all this was going on, BNP activists clashed with a local black resident, who wanted to hand back a BNP leaflet pushed through her door. In front of the resident’s five-year-old son, the BNP leafleter told her to “come to me because I don’t come to niggers” and other racist abuse.

The abusive fascist was arrested and interviewed, but no charges have been brought as the only witnesses were the victim and three BNP members.

Within hours the victim was being abused on BNP and other far-right websites, which also posted a photo and her details. Among other things she was called a benefits cheat, when in fact she works as a nurse at a local maternity unit. The police are back on the case.

The Wanstead and Woodford Guardian reported the attack and published a letter vigorously attacking the BNP bullies. But Chris Carter, the editor of the Ilford Recorder, disgracefully attacked Ross Hatfull and the Labour Party. He also set up an online poll on whether Labour was right to refuse to attend the hustings, apparently unaware of the BNP’s policy of rigging such polls by getting members all over the country to vote.

Carter knows well what a bunch of yobs the BNP are. Last year Councillor Bob Bailey, BNP group leader in Barking and Dagenham, launched a foul-mouthed verbal assault on the Recorder’s news editor. After a phone call, peppered with four-letter words in which Bailey called her a “jobsworth” and a Nazi, he turned up at the newspaper’s offices with a group of party colleagues. After spending 20 minutes shouting abuse through a megaphone, they were moved on by the police.

The other issue is how to pitch anti-BNP leaflets. Local anti-BNP activists distributed a leaflet with a very strong message headed “Don’t vote for scum”, which told the full and unpleasant truth about the BNP. It highlighted a BNP organiser’s statement that there was little point in keeping disabled people alive.

It may go some way to explain why the BNP candidate polled so badly, falling far short of the percentage the BNP would need to gain a London MEP on 4 June.

Evans’s final leaflet, distributed just before polling day, was partly about law and order. Perhaps he should remember the person who encouraged him to join the BNP in the first place, a man with a criminal record for his part in BNP-inspired rioting in the North West a few years ago. It is likely the electorate in London will be hearing more about that in the course of the European election campaign.

The “don’t vote for scum” leaflet can be read here.

Hope not hate

Breaking news: Suffolk BNP candidate arrested

The Suffolk farmer who built gallows for export has been arrested just weeks after the British National Party chose him as a candidate for the European elections.

The BNP has confirmed that David Lucas, of Mildenhall, was arrested on Thursday and questioned by Suffolk Police and that he had been released on bail.

A spokesman for Suffolk police said: “A 48-year-old man from Lakenheath has been arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods. He has been released on police bail to return to Bury St Edmunds police station on June.11.”

The BNP has said that the alleged incident will not prevent Mr Lucas, who lives at Eldon Farm in Holywell Row, from standing in the European election. He is in fifth place out of seven candidates from the East of England chosen by the party to fight for a seat in Brussels.

A spokesman said: “David woke up to find the police around the house. He was interviewed and then released. It follows a big fund raising party held on his property to raise funds for the campaign. We are not worried about the incident and he will remain on the party's election list of candidates.”

Nominations for the June 4 election close on May 7.

Ipswich Evening Star

BNP candidate quizzed by police

A candidate for the British National Party (BNP) has been arrested by armed police in Suffolk.

David Lucas, who is standing in the European elections, was questioned on suspicion of handling stolen goods. The arrest of Mr Lucas on Thursday is in connection with an incident at Halesworth, in Suffolk, last year.

The BNP confirmed that Mr Lucas had been arrested at his farm near Mildenhall and questioned before being released on bail.

BBC

Full report of BNP attack on Liverpool Anti-Fascists, April 23rd

Steven Greenhalgh

BNP Thugs Take to the Streets of Liverpool and Assault Local Anti-Fascists

Yesterday, April 23rd, saw fifteen members of Liverpool BNP members take to the streets of our city again. As word got around that they were leafleting on Church Street, around 12.30pm, local anti-fascists did what they could to mobilise people (not the easiest thing to do mid-week, mid afternoon!). By 1pm there was around twenty anti-fascists leafleting in and around the BNP, making it loud and clear what the BNP stood for, and why people shouldn’t tolerate their presence. This was met by the standard bellowing of ‘get a wash’ and ‘get a job’ from the BNP only serving to further alienate members of the public, from whom they were already getting short shrift.

Before long it became clear that as well as their suited and booted ‘activists’, the BNP had a number of thugs dispersed in the crowd who were taking it in turns to try and intimidate both anti-fascists and uninvolved passers by. This was on top of their standard motley crew of camera men who were systematically patrolling the crowd and filming anybody who showed opposition to their presence.

At around 1.30pm the BNP realised that they were getting nowhere, packed up their stall and moved off towards St. Georges Hall, the site of recent BNP rallies in the city. By the time anti-fascist activists arrived they had set up their stall in St. Johns Garden to the rear of the hall, and once again began leafleting. Anti-fascists responded by striking up conversations with other people in the Gardens and handing out our leaflets. After five minutes the BNP decided they had been beaten once again and got together to leave the gardens. Two anti-fascists ran ahead to get out on to the road in front where they could continue ensuring that the public knew the truth about the fascist organisation.

Peter Tierney

At this point three of the BNP members, Peter Tierney, Steve Greenhalgh and an as yet unidentified man, decided that they’d had enough of being routed from their chosen leafleting spots, and unleashed a vicious assault on the two who had run in front. Peter Tierney, armed with a folded camera tripod, used his weapon to hit one man around the head, splitting it open. Steve Greenhalgh turned his paste table on its edge and began to use it as a weapon in much the same way that riot police were doing with their shields at the G20 protests, and the third man went in with fists and boots narrowly missing one activists face. On realising the seriousness of the assault Steve Greenhalgh (thought to be Liverpool BNP’s local organiser) then quickly began ushering his minions, some whom clearly hadn’t quenched their blood-thirst, out of the gardens. The group were followed closely by anti-fascists until they left the gardens, ensuring no repeat attack could take place.

In the aftermath of the attack three anti-fascists left the scene together, deliberately going in the opposite direction to the BNP. However, as they rounded a corner they saw the fascists talking to a group of police. Not wishing a further confrontation, the activists walked past, only for the police to run towards them and inform one of them that Peter Tierney (the perpetrator of the armed attack) had made a complaint of assault against him. Without any chance to defend himself, the activist, who was showing no sign of resistance, was cuffed and arrested on suspicion of assault. Police then took over half an hour to take seriously the report that it was in fact the BNP who had launched a vicious attack on anti-fascists. The falsely imprisoned anti-fascist then spent nine hours in custody in the same police station as Tierney, with police telling other comrades that he was in a different station. As a result when the man was released from custody, wearing only distinctive custody issue tracksuit clothing, he was followed by a car full of BNP activists who threatened ‘we know where you live, we’re going to fucking kill you’.

Despite the attack, the day was on the whole successful. Anti-fascists prevented the BNP from having free reign on the streets of Liverpool, seeing that the BNP’s vile politics did not go unchallenged. In the end the BNP were unable to control themselves and showed the public what they are really about: ‘defending rights for whites with well placed boots and fists’ in the words of their chairman Nick Griffin. Once again, Merseyside Police showed themselves to be entirely biased towards the BNP, not only responding to a false claim only made to deflect attention from the fascist attacks, but putting an activist in serious danger by holding him at the same station as Tierney and failing to ensure his safety upon being released.

This is the clearest example yet in Merseyside that the BNP are not simply an far-right racist party, but a fascist organisation who rely on violence when all the cards down. This story must be publicised to its full extent in the run up to the June 4th Euro-Elections in which Griffin is standing as candidate for the North-West. The activist who was injured is now recovering following hospital treatment, and the activist who was arrested has been bailed until July 21st and banned from the city centre.

Messages of solidarity can be sent to lsarf@live.co.uk (Liverpool Students Against Racism and Fascism)

liverpoolred (via Indymedia)

Europe's far right on the march

Fascist salutes greeted the election of Gianni Alemanno as the far right mayor of Rome

As delegates gather at a United Nations anti-racism conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Mark Seddon looks at how the far right is gaining ground amid Europe's continuing economic crisis.

The far right is on the rise throughout Europe, riding a perfect storm of unemployment, declining wage levels, poor housing and immigration.

As the economic recession bites deeper, and as labour mobility in Europe all too frequently becomes a race to the bottom, with workers forced to undercut each other, so an increasing tide of racism and xenophobia threatens the established political parties.

The growing movement also poses questions for the post-World War II liberal political settlement, that with the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy was supposed to do away with the spectre of fascism for ever.

The European Union is itself under attack as Europeans go to the polls on June 7 to elect a new parliament, and all the evidence points to sweeping gains for far-right parties.

'Anti-politics' mood

In many countries, the far right is tapping in to a widespread "anti-politics" mood.

What unites the movement is a belief that there are too many foreigners in Europe, that they should be induced to return from whence they came, and that the established political order needs to be overturned - not least the EU itself.

In some countries, the traditional parties of organised labour and the left have split, or moved their centre of gravity to the right in order to counter this new wave of rightwing populism.

In so doing, a vacuum has been created, nowhere more so than among some of the more deprived traditional working-class communities that now frequently have very little work.

The European Parliament elections are based on proportional representation and characterised in many states, by a very low turnout.

This helps the far right, as it does the far left.

Berlusconi defiance

In Italy, the far right now forms part of a coalition government with Silvio Berlusconi's administration, with the xenophobic Northern League and the post-fascist National Alliance being given senior positions in government.

The Northern League is led by Gianfranco Fini, and his party has advocated authorising coastguards to shoot human traffickers as well as arguing that the EU is run by paedophiles.

Berlusconi defied international criticism by enlisting the support not only of Fini but also Alessandra Mussolini (the daughter of the former Italian dictator), a leading far-right figure in her own right.

A year ago this month, Fascist salutes greeted the election of Gianni Alemanno as the far right Mayor of Rome, and anti-immigrant sentiment is running high across the country ahead of the European elections.

In France, the high water mark for the far right came when Jean Mari Le Pen's National Front party garnered about six million votes, when he beat Lionel Jospin, the Socialist candidate, into fourth place in the 2002 presidential elections.

The National Front has yet to improve on that performance, but the continuing disarray of parties on the left, including the Communist Party, now a fraction of its former self, mean that the potential is still there.

Deepening rifts

Turning to northern Europe, in recent years, Belgian politics have become characterised by a deepening rift between the French-speaking south and the Flemish North.

This division has deepened by the emergence of the far-right Flemish Bloc party as one of the biggest movements.

Not only does the Flemish Block advocate home rule, but it is fiercely anti-immigrant and openly anti-Semitic. Its influence continues to grow.

While the death of , the charismatic Freedom Party leader, in a car crash deprived Austria of its most effective far-right leaders.

The Freedom Party is deeply embedded in the south of the country, and has already spent a controversial period in a coalition government in Vienna.

Despite criticism, Haider and other leaders of the Freedom Party were frequently pictured attending and speaking at reunion gatherings of the war-time Waffen SS.

Austria, unlike Germany, was never subjected to the intensive de-Nazification campaigns that followed from the defeat of Adolf Hitler.

In Britain, the British National Party (BNP), the successor organisation to the National Front, has, in common with its sister parties, attempted to shed the hardline, sometimes violent image associated with some of its shaven-headed supporters.

Britain's "first past the post" electoral system for elections to parliament has ensured that the BNP has never gained a member of parliament.

But local and European elections are a different matter, and the BNP has high hopes of making a major breakthrough and winning between four and eight seats in the European elections in June.

Lapsing memories

The days of far-right parties commanding barely a handful of votes at elections are over.

Once associated with obscure commemorations and rallies for Rudolf Hess, the last Nazi prisoner, who was held in Berlin's Spandau prison until his death in 1987, many of the far-right parties have distanced themselves from the more obvious paraphernalia of fascism.

While their ideological roots lie with the pre-World War II fascist movements, their public face is often one of moderation and reason.

To an extent, that approach may have served its purpose.

The time distance between the fall of Nazi Germany and the present is sufficiently long for younger generations to be ignorant of the full horror perpetrated in the name of fascism.

And when world leaders, such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, cast doubt on the Holocaust, as he did in Geneva this week, it suddenly becomes a whole lot easier for the far right to follow in his wake.

Al Jazeera

This is Exactly How Nazi Germany Started

In March this year the national press was riddled with that photo of the bludgeoned, bloody face of British National Party member Tony Ward. Anti-fascist protesters allegedly attacked Ward at a failed BNP fundraiser in Leigh, Greater Manchester.

While both sides wasted no time in accusing the other of striking first, this incident raises a serious question: has this party of radical extremists become such a serious threat that violence against them is warranted? Clearly some must think so. The brutal confrontation led to the cancellation of a multi-venue Love Music Hate Racism club night the following evening for public safety reasons.

The BNP’s newfound prevalence in the press is due to the fact that the party has entered over 60 candidates to stand in this June’s European elections. Eight of these candidates, including Nick Griffin, are standing in the North West.

At home with the BNP
Let’s briefly envision a scenario sometime in the not too distant future. Imagine the British National Party has come to power. They would start by whitewashing what is, in their view, a stained “coffee colour” painted canvas of a country. Mixed marriage would be banned and so would any other form of racial integration. That would mean no more Leona Lewises, no more Rio Ferdinands and no more Ben Kingsleys. Existing minority groups would be constantly told that their homes do not belong to them. LGBT rights would be forgotten and women would be told to stay at home where they belong. The death penalty would be re-introduced, as would those indispensable handguns that have proved such a good idea in the US. Anyone desiring to engage in any sort of rational debate would be made pariahs in their own country irrespective of their skin colour. All this is just for starters.

Why do people join the BNP?
So who are these suited men and women passionately preaching their textbook far right views? A cursory glance through the party’s constitution suggests that these are people who wish to reclaim an identity. However, to do so they advocate a Britain of an imagined age – certainly one that ignores the social and economic realities of today. A good example of this is illustrated in a list of the 15 Caucasian “ethnic groups” that can be granted membership to the party.

The BNP seems to gain a sense of importance from believing that they are involved in “The Struggle”. That is the struggle to take back their imagined community from those viewed to be “invaders”. Such is their belief that Griffin is convinced that the party needs to prepare for a coming civil war.
The BNP rhetoric entered mainstream politics with Gordon Brown’s ill thought out “British Jobs for British Workers” spiel. The fact that the Prime Minister feels that he has to stoop to these fearful sentiments suggests that the BNP have struck a chord. At a time when unemployment is on the increase, people want a target to blame for their misfortune. Brown’s statement only served to play into the hands of the BNP, who launched a poster campaign featuring his words along with the insidious tagline “When we say it we mean it!” blazoned underneath.

“LGBT rights would be forgotten and women would be told to stay at home where they belong.”

The party thrives on the fact that no one in government is able to provide accurate immigration statistics. They latch on to the dangerous scaremongering over asylum seekers helpfully orchestrated by the right-wing tabloid press and while they refute constant allegations of racism, what party members say in speeches and print in leaflets veers dangerously close to racial discrimination. In 2008 the BNP distributed a leaflet entitled “Racism cuts both ways” in which it labelled young Muslim men as paedophiles, stating: “Wherever there are large numbers of young Muslim men, groups of them team up to lure young girls – often as young as 12 or 13 – into a nightmare world of sexual abuse, rape, beatings, drug addiction and prostitution. Some of these perverts are recently arrived ‘asylum seekers’.”

Matters of immigration and asylum seekers are arguably one of the major crutches of BNP campaigning. Many students feel that the BNP’s attitudes towards asylum seekers are extremely dangerous. According to Rick Sims, a representative from STAR (Student Action for Asylum Seekers and Refugees): “The reason why a lot of people are here, whether they’re asylum seekers, refugees or people awaiting refugee status, is that they have gone through horrible things that I would not wish to happen to anyone. As far as the BNP is concerned, they actively incite a lack of understanding and ignorance of these people and of the fact that people have always moved around.”

Yet the BNP’s appeal has undoubtedly grown in the last few years. “Unfortunately the party get around to a lot of people, people who will never have met a politician before,” said Sims. “To me they’re not really a political party, I hate to think it but I imagine that they’ll probably get more support, especially from those looking for people to blame in the current climate.”

Strength in Numbers
In recent years the BNP have managed to significantly increase their number of council seats. With 55 local seats across Britain, as well as a seat on the Greater London Assembly, it would appear that Nick Griffin’s respectable front is helping the party to slowly make inroads. The party have had their “pure” British eyes trained intensely on the North West for some time now. Currently the party has six councillors in the region; two of them are in Pendle, Lancashire and the other four are located in Burnley. The North West is seemingly a fertile breeding ground for the BNP’s message of division; the party’s electoral successes here have come largely on the back of low voter turnout and protest votes from those disillusioned with the mainstream political parties.

While many have a right to be concerned about the activities and relative progress made by the party, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that a proportion of those who vote BNP have been made to feel that they have no alternative. The failures or perceived failures of the Government have led them to the seemingly well-paved road to the BNP. A parallel can be seen in the electoral success of the French Front National led by the infamous and charismatic Jean-Marie Le Pen. In the 2002 French presidential elections, Le Pen stood as a candidate, garnering 17% of the popular vote and coming second after the incumbent, Jacques Chirac. While the BNP has nowhere near this amount of electoral power, the French situation is a disturbing display of what the far right could achieve in Britain under the right (or wrong) circumstances.

Do you want the BNP to represent you in Europe?
As a preamble to its campaign for the European elections in June, the BNP confidently proclaims on their website that “now everyone in Britain can vote for the British National Party”. While most will laugh this off, some anxiously, the fact is that these Neo-Fascists have been making noticeable electoral gains in the last couple of years – slight gains, but gains nonetheless. With the current economic stalemate slowly adding fuel to the fire lit by the BNP in the early ‘90s, it is very possible that this number will increase. If turnout for the European elections is as low as it has been in the past then this will only work to their advantage, especially when you consider the vast work and resources they have already put in to becoming more prominent in the North West.

A seat in the EU Parliament could be used as a platform from which to forge links with other dangerous far-right groups across Europe, while a presence in Europe would give Griffin and his party a position on the international stage, a position legitimised by their election in the North West of England. They only need 7.5-9% of the popular vote in order to guarantee a seat in Brussels, depending on overall turn out. Given that the BNP have tried several times before to enter the European Parliament and in the last North West EU election they received around 8% of the vote, winning this time is not as far fetched as it might sound.

According to Sam Tarry, Youth and Students Organizer for HOPE not hate, a campaign to expose the extremism behind the BNP, “Each MEP (Member of European Parliament) is not only entitled to a number of staff members in the UK and in Brussels but also has access to a £250,000 communications allowance, meaning that state funding allowances would boost the BNP’s capability in a way that would be totally unprecedented. They would be here to stay; on our TVs, through our letterboxes and in our communities, including on campus.’

Reclaiming Britishness
Though the BNP have hijacked the St George’s flag and everything from jam making at fetes to roast beef on a Sunday, these quintessential aspects of Britishness don’t have to be associated with racism and exclusivity and can instead be seen as a celebration of one culture among many, which can be shared by people from all backgrounds. However, this middle ground is being picked away; those who disagree with a racist, xenophobic and fascist party taking power need to stand up for a Britain filled with hope. Our mainstream political parties must focus on tackling the issues that the BNP have made divisive. If they ignore or underestimate them, it will be at the peril of a currently stable country.
One reason for the success of this whites-only fringe party has been the lack of participation in the democratic process and, reliant on marginal voters to win seats, it is telling that the BNP are putting their efforts into the EU elections, in which turn out is usually around 30% in contrast to the 60-70% of General Elections.

Students however have the potential to send the message loud and clear that the BNP’s politics are not welcome here in Britain or on campus, as Jonty Pryor of UMSU’s HOPE not Hate campaign reminds us: “We’re not going to be divided by this message of hate, trying to blame certain demographics within society. We need to show Nick Griffin and the fascists that we are one community and will come together against them. The one message we’re trying to spread is that we don’t want a fascist representing us and there is a real possibility of that, so get out there and vote!”

Student Direct

Clergyman drives BNP activist out of cathedral grounds

Ven Chris Liley

The Ven Chris Liley, the Archdeacon of Lichfield, confronted the supporter of the far-right party after he parked its "Truth Truck" outside the cathedral in Staffordshire.

The 61-year-old cleric told him to stop taking photographs of the van in front of the building, then ordered him to leave the cathedral close.

He now plans to tell the BNP, which hopes to put up candidates for county council elections in Staffordshire this year, not to publish any material featuring Lichfield Cathedral or imply that the Church of England supports its policies.

The party, which wants an end to immigration and the "voluntary resettlement" of foreign-born residents of Britain, believes it will receive a large number of votes because of opposition to a mosque being built in the city.

Earlier this year the Church of England's governing body, the General Synod, voted overwhelmingly to ban clergy and lay staff from being members of the group amid growing fears it is trying to disguise its extreme policies and portray itself as a Christian organisation.

The BNP is using a picture of Jesus in a new billboard campaign ahead of European elections in June, together with a quote from the Bible reading "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you" and posing the question: "What would Jesus do?"

Mr Liley said: "Lichfield Cathedral is a place of Christian worship and the centre of mission for the Diocese of Lichfield. We are open to all and want everybody to feel welcome here – but people visiting the Cathedral must act in a way which does not damage the cathedral nor the welcome that we are able to offer other visitors.

"The BNP are wrong to suggest that Jesus would vote for the BNP. I don't know who he would vote for, but his parable of the Good Samaritan was a clear example about the value we should place on people from other communities.

"Lichfield Cathedral encourages people to vote in elections and we seek to engage with all legitimate politicians. But we will not endorse any particular candidate or party and it is wrong for any party to seek to use the Cathedral in a way which might imply endorsement, regardless of how much we may support or oppose what they stand for."

A spokesman for the BNP said the activist had only been trying to take a photo with the cathedral in the background, on Tuesday afternoon, to show the places its campaign bus had visited.

He said: "The cathedral is synonymous with Lichfield. It's a very quaint English place so when you depict it, what better thing to show than the cathedral?

"We're about to put our first candidate in Lichfield and I think we're going to get a very big vote. There's a big mosque planned for Lichfield but there's a lot of opposition to it."

The Telegraph

What a pair of twats.....

Archbishop condemns BNP leader's 'bloodless genocide' claim

The British National party chairman, Nick Griffin, who was defending a BNP leaflet which said black and Asian Britons 'do not exist'. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

The archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has attacked British National party chairman, Nick Griffin, for claiming that a "bloodless genocide" is taking place in the UK.

Griffin, who is chairman of the far right organisation, was defending a BNP leaflet that said black and Asian Britons "do not exist", adding that the use of the terms denied "the English their own identity".

But Sentamu, who was born in Uganda, said it was not up to the BNP to define Englishness.

"You don't have to be a member of the BNP to be clearly English, and it is quite a mistake to suggest that everybody who wants to affirm Englishness affirms that narrow thinking. This 'bloodless genocide'? I think that is just language which is beyond belief."

Griffin, who is one of the BNP's candidates in the upcoming European elections, was defending the party's Language and Concepts Discipline Manual, which says the term used for black and Asian British people should be "racial foreigners".

During an interview with the BBC he said that although "in civic terms they are British, British also has a meaning as an ethnic description."

"These people are 'black residents' of the UK etc, and are no more British than an Englishman living in Hong Kong is Chinese," he said.

The manual describes the BNP's "ultimate aim" as the "lawful, humane and voluntary repatriation of the resident foreigners of the UK".

Griffin added: "We don't subscribe to the politically correct fiction that just because they happen to be born in Britain, a Pakistani is a Briton. They're not. They remain of Pakistani stock.

"You can't say that especially large numbers of people can come from the rest of the world and assume an English identity without denying the English their own identity, and I would say that's wrong. In a very subtle way, it's a sort of bloodless genocide."

Today a spokesman for anti-fascist group Searchlight said: "The Euro election campaign has only just started and already Nick Griffin's mask of respectability is melting away. These vile comments reveal the true face of the BNP."

Griffin is standing as the BNP's first-choice candidate in the North West in June. Polling experts believe the far-right party has a chance of picking up its first seats in the European parliament.

The Guardian

Billy Bragg slams BNP for hijacking St George's Day

BILLY Bragg today (Thursday) blasted the BNP for hijacking St George's Day and trying to turn his home town into the "racist capital of Britain".

The Barking-born musician condemned the party's exclusive patriotism, saying it was at odds with the area's history that saw migrants flock to the 27,000-home Becontree Estate in Dagenham to work for car giant Ford before World War Two.

Bragg, 51, was speaking at a St George's Day community cohesion conference at Harmony House community centre, Baden Powell Close, Dagenham.

"They're trying to make Barking into a place which is the racist capital of Britain," he added.

"It is not any more or less racist than anywhere else. I object to them coming in here and stirring up fear and division when the story of our town is one of change, of people coming from elsewhere and coming to the borough. It's something we need to concentrate on more."

The BNP group, which has the largest representation in England with 12 out of 51 councillors, branded Bragg a "left-wing Labour puppet" who now lived in Dorset and failed to represent the working class.

Their leader Cllr Bob Bailey said: "Billy Bragg is no patriot, he's no friend of England. He hates the English, he hates Britain and what it stands for.

Barking and Dagenham Recorder

URGENT KIRKLEES UNITY NEWS

Richard Edmonds

It has been brought to our attention that the BNP in Kirklees intend again to hold another meeting in the Heckmondwike area on Thursday 23^rd April

The meeting which is due to start at 8pm is to be held at The Royal Hotel public house which is located on High Street Heckmondwike WF16 0AL

The guest speaker for the night once again is Richard Edmonds the former deputy leader of the party under the John Tyndall regime.

Former teacher Edmonds has a string of criminal convictions:

In 1988, The Sunday Times revealed that Holocaust News, a publication that claimed The Holocaust was an "evil hoax", was being published by Edmonds, on behalf of a BNP front organisation, the Centre for Historical Review, and distributed by members. The theme was returned to on 8th April 1991 edition of Panorama where Edmonds described the publication as 'a wonderful statement of the truth'

Edmonds also spent time in custody over a racial attack in 1993 and had previously been convicted for smashing a statue of Nelson Mandela on London's South Bank. Further controversy came in 1993 when he told The Guardian that 'we [the BNP] are 100% racist'.

Surprisingly to some, Edmonds was co-opted by Nick Griffin onto the BNP's Advisory Council in September 2008, thereby returning him to the top tier of the party and ending his period of apparent dissidence.

Edmonds was due to address a North Kirklees meeting at the Royal Hotel back in November 2008, however down to pressure from antifascists the meeting was called off.

Because of the meeting cancellation the North Kirklees organiser at the time Ian Roper was sacked by Yorkshire organiser Adrian Marsden.

As The Royal is a Free House we are asking people to ring the pub and POLITELY lodge their complaint with the management.

The Royal Hotel's telephone number is 01924 403265

We have proven already what can be done in November.

For more information on Richard Edmonds see this website.

http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/the-real-bnp/A-Z-of-the-BNP.php#e

BNP says Asian and black Britons "do not exist"

Nick Griffin, chair of the British National Party, has defended party literature which tells members that Asian Britons and black Britons "do not exist" and said that the attempt by a "liberal elite" to label such people as British amounts to a "bloodless genocide." Mr Griffin, who plans to run as a candidate for England's North West region in upcoming European Parliamentary elections, spoke to a team from BBC Radio 4's The Report (Radio 4, 23 April, 8.00pm) who have been following his European campaign.

The "BNP Language And Concepts Discipline Manual", leaked to anti-fascist group Searchlight and seen by the BBC, says that "BNP activists and writers should never refer to 'black Britons' or 'Asian Britons' etc, for the simple reason that such persons do not exist."

Questioned about the leaflet's content, BNP Chairman Nick Griffin said: "In civic terms they are British. But British also has a meaning as an ethnic description."

He said: "We don't subscribe to the politically correct fiction that just because they happen to be born in Britain, a Pakistani is a Briton. They're not. They remain of Pakistani stock."

He compared large numbers of people of foreign origin assuming an English identity to "a sort of bloodless genocide."

The programme looks in depth at the BNP's campaign in the North West region. It examines the connections between the BNP and European far-right activists, and assesses the party's tactics and ideology.

The proportional system at European elections means the BNP would need less than 9% of the vote to win a single MEP seat.

The BNP is using the slogan "British Jobs For British Workers," widely associated with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"When I heard Gordon Brown use our slogan - British jobs for British workers - I was delighted," Nick Griffin said. "We feel that he's legitimised our message."

Hazel Blears, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said: "I certainly regret the fact that the BNP could be using language we've used in order to legitimise what I regard as divisive, pernicious policies which will actually do working class people no good at all.

"What I don't regret is the fact that we need to have a proper discussion in this country about making sure that British people have a chance to get the skills, the education, to be able to get the jobs of the future."

BBC

Street attack on BNP man

A PENSIONER has been attacked by a young thug - because he was handing out BNP leaflets.

Master gunmaker Peter Frenette, British National Party organiser for South Cambridgeshire, was assaulted in St Neots along with a fellow party member.

The 67-year-old activist was approached by his attacker, who is described as white, 16 to 20 and wearing a black T-shirt and black trousers, in Market Square, near a BNP stall.

Police have appealed for witnesses.

Mr Frenette, of Cock Audley, Little Paxton, said: "We had been handing out leaflets and were mostly well received by the public. Then these three men came up and one of them started shouting at me, calling me a racist and a bigot.

"He started pushing me and grabbed my leaflets and began to rip them up. My colleague, who is in his 60s, was also confronted and was being pushed. There was about six of us out there. They stole about £60 of our leaflets which were later found ripped up and in bins.

"I tried to be calm and told him we were a legitimate party and that we had a right to be here and that we were a democratic party but he was just so furious there was no talking to him. He was really hate-filled and it was impossible."
A police spokeswoman said: "Officers are investigating an assault at 11.25am on Saturday. The aggrieved was confronted by a man who made threats. Police are now looking at CCTV footage of the incident and are appealing for witnesses to the assault."

Mr Frenette was one of scores of BNP members from Cambridgeshire who had their personal details posted on the internet.

A document revealed the names, addresses, and contact details of 142 far-right supporters from the county.

The party's leader, Cambridge law graduate Nick Griffin, lodged a complaint with police and described the publication as "a disgraceful act of treachery" by former BNP staff members.

Anyone with information about the St Neots incident should call police on 0845 456 4564.

Cambridge News

Nazis target loyalist estates

Little Kevin Watmough-Shortarsed Fuhrer of the tiny BPP

An extreme right-wing British nationalist party calling for the introduction of a shoot-to-kill policy in the north have been condemned for carrying out a leaflet drop in Derry.
Local loyalist leaders said such views were not welcome in loyalist estates.

The Ulster branch of the British People's Party (BPP), a pro-white power group who claim to "represent the interests of the ultra Nationalists of Great Britain", distributed hundreds of leaflets in loyalist areas of Derry's Waterside on Saturday.

In a statement on their website, on which Hitler's birthday was yesterday openly celebrated, the BPP state the leaflet drop comes as part of a campaign "against the late upsurge in dissident republican activity in Northern Ireland".

The statement reads: "The activists posted leaflets through the doors of houses on Bond Street, Clooney Estate and Lincoln Court, stating "Bring back the 'shoot-to-kill policy' for suspected IRA terrorists!"

The party claim to have been met with "a very positive response from the locals who seemed disconcerted by the lack of action taken against the late attacks perpetrated by the Real-IRA."

"The Ulster BPP is confident that more positive comments are yet to come, and that there will be some new recruits in the Londonderry area," the statement concludes.

Alarm at right wing leaflets

Loyalist leaders have said they are alarmed by the drop of the extreme right wing literature locally.
David Malcolm of the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG), a group which provides political analysis to the UDA, said such views are not welcome in Derry's Loyalist communities.

"This is something which needs to be stamped out very quickly. The UPRG, the Progressive Unionist Party and other community leaders have met this morning to discuss our concerns. This has to be totally condemned."

"We do not want to see any young people come under the influence of such material and using it as a reason to stoke up sectarian tensions. Loyalism is now in a position where we are working to talk tensions down rather than stoke them up."

Meanwhile the UPRG representative has described a meeting between the Loyalist group and the head of the Catholic Church planned for this Friday as "significant."

Meeting

Mr Malcolm, who will form part of the UPRG's delegation to meet with Cardinal Sean Brady, said the meeting was further evidence of the progressive nature of Loyalism.

It is understood Cardinal Brady is likely to press for the decommissioning of UDA weapons.

The Derry Journal

Racist escapes terror charge after threat to behead and bomb Muslims

Glasgow Central Mosque

THE Crown Office has been accused of double standards by Scotland's biggest Islamic group for not bringing terrorism charges against a man who threatened to blow up a mosque and behead Muslims.
The Scottish Islamic Foundation (SIF) has written to Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini querying the decision to prosecute Neil MacGregor for a breach of the peace, not terrorism offences.

MacGregor, 35, has admitted threatening to blow up Scotland's biggest mosque and to behead one Muslim a week until every mosque was shut down.

He will be sentenced at Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday.

"There has been criticism for the lack of exposure this case has got, but this stems from how the case was originally handled," SIF chief executive Osama Saeed said. "Had he been a Muslim, we suspect that counter-terror police would have been involved from the outset, and it would have been processed in a completely different manner."

Mr Saeed drew a parallel with the case of Mohammed Atif Siddique, a student from Alva, Clackmannanshire, who was jailed for eight years for internet-related terrorist crimes.

"No-one seems to have looked into the internet habits that radicalised MacGregor to take copycat revenge for (British hostage] Ken Bigley's assassination in Iraq," he said.

"We can be sure if he had been Muslim and had been inspired to replicate it, the result would have been quite different."

Mr Saeed insisted he was not seeking to minimise the seriousness of Islamic terrorism cases.

"All we are calling for is consistency, and the authorities have to explain why the heavy books of the Terrorism Acts were not thrown at MacGregor," he said.

"Islamic and far-right extremism are stablemates when it comes to violence – a toxic mix of ideology and grievance. We hear glib assurances that far-right extremism is being dealt with, but the evidence says otherwise."

The SIF was founded last year, describing itself as a "platform for action", and has received £400,000 from the Scottish Government.

Mr Saeed said the federation would request evidence from the case to be released under Freedom of Information laws.

An earlier hearing was told MacGregor admitted sending an e-mail to Strathclyde Police, threatening to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque if certain demands were not met.

Included in the message was a threat to behead one Muslim a week, in the same manner that construction worker Mr Bigley was killed after he was kidnapped in Iraq in 2004.

The court heard MacGregor, from Derbyshire, followed that e-mail with a 999 call to police on 5 February, 2007, in which he claimed he was from the National Front and that a bomb was going to go off at Glasgow's Central Mosque.

Police searched the building for explosive devices, but failed to find anything suspicious.

In his e-mail, MacGregor wrote: "I'm a proud racist and National Front member. We as an organisation have decided to deal with the current threat from Muslims in our own British way like our proud ancestors.

"Our demands are very small. Close all mosques in Scotland, we see this is very easy – even you guys can handle that."

He then wrote: "If our demands aren't met by next Friday we'll kidnap one Muslim and execute him or her on the internet, just like they did to our Ken Bigley."

A Crown Office spokesman said that MacGregor was indicted on a charge of breach of the peace, aggravated by racial hatred, "following full and careful consideration of all the facts and circumstances in this case".

The Scotsman

BNP 'can make us a laughing stock,' says Yorks MP

Shahid Malik

YORKSHIRE will be a "laughing stock" in Europe if its voters elect a British National Party Euro-MP, a government minister has warned.
Dewsbury MP and justice minister Shahid Malik warned that the far-right party could "sneak in" at the European Parliament elections on June 4 because of the nature of the voting system.

European Parliament seats are awarded by proportional representation on a region-wide basis.

The number of seats each party wins is calculated according to the share of the vote that party achieves in each region.

Labour campaigners fear that the BNP may only need to pick up as little as 11 per cent of the vote to win a seat.

The party received eight per cent of the vote in the 2004 European elections.

Speaking to the YEP, Mr Malik said: "We cannot afford to under estimate the threat of the BNP. Because of the nature of the voting system for European elections, there is always a possibility that a minority party can gain a seat.

"Across the country – in the Yorkshire region, in the North West, East Midlands, West Midlands and in London – there is the possibility that the BNP could sneak through because of the election system for the Euros.

"My message is clear – every vote will count and people must come out and support mainstream political parties otherwise we will be a laughing stock in Europe."

It is feared the BNP will capitalise on the uncertainty voters face during the recession.

They are also likely to benefit from an expected low turn out and an expected drop in support for the UK Independence Party.

This year's Euro election only coincides with the Doncaster mayoral contest and the North Yorkshire county council election, whereas the 2004 election was held on the same day as an "all out" council election, which boosted turnout.

Labour MEP Linda McAvan said: "The BNP were not so active in 2004, which was held on the same day as local elections so the vote was higher.

"People are not accustomed to vote in June either."

Mr Malik believes the BNP have been seriously disrupted in Dewsbury, but it is feared they may have regrouped elsewhere in West Yorkshire.

Politicians in Morley reacted with dismay last November after it was revealed the town has the highest British National Party membership in the country.

Analysis of a leaked BNP membership list revealed that Morley and Rothwell constituency has 90 members of the far right party.

This was the highest number out of the 646 parliamentary seats in the UK.

Ms McAvan added: "People will be very shocked if they wake up on the morning after the election and Yorkshire has a BNP MEP."

Yorkshire Evening Post