German Newspaper Gives Blueprints for Nazi Death Camp to Israel

Sketched on yellowing parchment, the 29 blueprints presented to Israel's prime minister
Thursday lay out the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz in chilling detail, with gas chambers,
crematoria, delousing facilities and watch towers drawn to scale.

"There are those who deny that the Holocaust happened," Benjamin Netanyahu said as he accepted the documents as a gift to Israel's Holocaust memorial, where they will go on display next year. "Let them come to Jerusalem and look at these plans, these plans for the factory of death."

Netanyahu lingered over the large sheets spread on a table. Stamped with the Nazi abbreviation for concentration camp "K.L. Auschwitz," one of the largest featured multi-colored sketches, with barracks and even latrines drawn in detail. Other smaller sheets showed architectural designs of individual buildings, drawn from various angles.

The Israeli leader was accompanied by his wife, Sara, whose father was the only member of his family to survive the Nazi genocide that killed 6 million Jews during World War II. She watched somberly as the documents, which date from 1941 to 1943, were unfolded. Also present was Yossi Peled, an Israeli Cabinet minister and former general whose father was killed by the Nazis and whose mother survived Auschwitz in one of the barracks detailed in the blueprints. Peled himself was hidden until age 7 by a family in Belgium who raised him as a Christian. He discovered his Jewish roots in 1948 and was taken to Israel two years later.

In Germany for a visit that combined talks on the Mideast conflict with acknowledgments of the painful past that binds the two countries, Netanyahu drew a clear parallel between the events of the Nazi era and the present day. The world did not do enough to stop the murder of Europe's Jews, he said, and must be careful now to take rapid action against "armed barbarism."

"We cannot allow those who wish to perpetrate mass death, those who call for the destruction of the Jewish people or the Jewish state to go unchallenged," Netanyahu said.

Though he did not explicitly mention Iran, his comments were a clear reference to the Tehran regime and its nuclear program, which Israel sees as a grave threat and wants blocked by stronger international sanctions. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Israel should be "wiped off the map."

Axel Springer Verlag, the publisher of the mass circulation Bild newspaper, obtained the Auschwitz blueprints last year from a German man who said he found them when cleaning out an apartment in what was formerly East Berlin. The publisher and Germany's federal archive have confirmed the documents' authenticity.

Numbering found on the back of the plans indicates they may have been taken from an archive, possibly the collection of documents on the Third Reich kept by the Stasi.

The documents were displayed for several weeks earlier this year in the lobby of Bild's headquarters in Berlin. The newspaper's editor, Kai Diekmann, said the publisher decided to give the sketches to Israel to ensure that as many people as possible could see them.

"These plans have an important function — they remind us of a crime that, with the passing of time, seems ever more incomprehensible," Diekmann said. "It is of the utmost importance to continue to be reminded of it."

While they are not the only original Auschwitz blueprints that still exist — others were captured by the Soviet Red Army and brought to Moscow — they will be the first for Israel's Yad Vashem memorial, its chairman, Avner Shalev, told The Associated Press.

"This set is a very early one, which was found here in Berlin, from the autumn of '41," Shalev said. "It brings a better understanding of the whole process, and the intention of the planners of the complex, and from this perspective it is important."

Shalev said the sketches will be on display in Jerusalem beginning Jan. 27 as part of a special exhibit marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The blueprints include general plans for the original Auschwitz camp and the expansion of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, where most of the killings were carried out. They were initialed by the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, and Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Hoess.

One of the drawings, dated Oct. 14, 1941, shows plans for construction of a "Waffen SS prisoner of war camp" with rows of what appear to be barracks. A notation in the bottom right says it was drafted by a prisoner identified only by his number: "Nr. 471."

German historian Ralf Georg Reuth, who reviewed the documents after they were discovered, noted that it was common to have prisoners draw up the plans for gas chambers where they would later be killed. More than 1 million people, mostly Jews, died in the gas chambers or through forced labor, disease or starvation at Auschwitz, which the Nazis built after occupying Poland.

Later Thursday, Netanyahu visited a house on Berlin's Wannsee Lake that was the site of an infamous Jan. 20, 1942, meeting at which top Nazis formalized plans for the systematic killing of Europe's Jewish population.

Germany and Israel, which was established three years after the Nazi defeat, today enjoy close ties. On Thursday, Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined Germany's special commitment, saying it was her country's obligation to "defend Israel always."

After those statements, she and Netanyahu shared a spontaneous and warm handshake.

Fox News

BNP Patch tribute angers Legion

The Royal British Legion in Somerset says it is appalled that a tribute to Harry Patch has been posted on the

British National Party website.

Robin White, chairman of the Wells branch, believes the tribute implies that the BNP stands for the same

things Harry Patch stood for.

"Knowing Harry as I did, he would have no truck with the BNP," he said.

A spokesman for the BNP criticised the Royal British Legion for making the matter a political issue.

"I think it's a shame that these organisations are coming out to have a pop at the BNP when we've always supported the troops," said John Walker.

Mr Patch, the last surviving tommy from the trenches of World War One, died last month at the age of 111.

"Harry's whole ethos was about peace and reconciliation," added Mr White.

"My understanding of what the BNP does is in no way related to peace and reconciliation."

It is not the first time that the Royal British Legion have been critical of the BNP.

In May, they wrote a private letter to BNP leader, Nick Griffin, asking him not to wear a poppy badge.

They accused Mr Griffin of trying to ­politicise "one of the nation's most treasured and beloved symbols".

BBC NEWS

West Ham riots: Yobs' return is blamed on BNP triumph

Undercover TV reporter Donal MacIntyre blamed the revival of football hooliganism on the BNP's recent success.

MacIntyre, whose exposé of the Chelsea Headhunter thugs helped convict five yobs, said the votes the BNP got in the Euro elections encouraged the thugs.

He added: 'The election of the BNP has given a licence and respectability to some very unacceptable views and unacceptable behaviour. Scouring the fan web sites has indicated that.

'The police need to take a zero tolerance approach to it.

'Instead of being overly-reliant on intelligence and only going for ringleaders, everyone who throws a punch or invades the pitch should be locked away.'

Donal said police should not have been caught unawares by Tuesday night's trouble.

He added: 'Millwall and West Ham have been involved in football hooligan firms for the last 30 years, so it surprises me that the violence wasn't predicted.'"

The Mirror

Police investigating claims of racism at BNP festival

DERBYSHIRE police has launched an investigation into allegations of racist behaviour at the BNPs Red, White and Blue Festival.

The allegations - made in a national newspaper - involved claims that a 12-year-old girl burned a golly doll at the annual event.

A spokeswoman for Derbyshire police said officers will be contacting the newspaper, which alleges that an undercover reporter witnessed unlawful activity while at the event.

Red, White and Blue was held for the third consecutive year on fields off Codnor-Denby Lane, Denby, earlier this month.

An article in the News of the World said it had sent an undercover reporter to the event who saw evidence of racist behaviour.

The BNP said it had launched an investigation into the claims."

BNP guilty of 'unacceptable' rule breach

The British National Party is to be fined for failing for failing to report its donations and accounts to the Electoral Commission.

Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000, parties are required to report donations on a quarterly basis to the watchdog, and must also submit their annual reports and accounts.

The BNP's breach of the rules was described as 'unacceptable' by Electoral Commission chief executive Peter Wardle.

'We have not yet received a donation return for this quarter from the British National Party,' he said.

'This comes on top of their failure to deliver their latest annual statement of accounts to the Commission.

'This is unacceptable and the party will be issued with fines for both reporting failures.

'We will also be assessing the systems they have in place to ensure compliance with the law.'"

Epolitix.com

Racist thug is jailed

REPEAT OFFENDER: Christopher Preece

A RACIST thug with a violent past has been jailed for four years following a brutal attack on an Asian man as he walked home from the shop.

Christopher Preece picked on Tahir Khan solely because of the colour of his skin - launching a vicious attack while subjecting him to verbal abuse.

The 21-year-old - who already has eight previous convictions for violence, including hitting a 90-year-old man - punched Mr Khan in the face, knocking him to the ground.

Desmond Rosario, prosecuting, told Sheffield Crown Court: "He tried to regain his stance but the defendant was standing over him and shouting at him."

He said witness accounts from the crowd of people in the area at the time - the day after St George's Day - said Preece, of Tickhill Road, Maltby, then began stamping on Mr Khan's head.

Christopher Alan, one of the 15 people there who was trying to get him to stop, said: "I saw him lift his right leg up to waist height and bring the base of his foot down with a lot of force about five or six times.

"After the first few times he appeared to be unconscious, but he continued kicking him."

Another witness said she heard Preece shout a racist obscenity at 28-year-old Mr Khan, before telling him to "get out of my village".

Mr Khan, who had just visited the nearby Londis shop in Tickhill Road to buy a loaf of bread, suffered bruising to his face and eyes and cuts to his lips.

Mr Rosario added: "He was fortunate not to suffer worse injuries."
In a victim impact statement Mr Khan, who had been working as a security guard at a Maltby building site when the incident happened in April, said he had been left shocked and upset.

He said: "I could perhaps understand why he has done this if I had said something to him, but it was completely without any reason."

The court heard about Preece's numerous previous convictions - beginning as a teenager in school when he assaulted a fellow pupil, before attacking his 29-year-old teacher as she tried to hold him back.
Preece, who has served two prison terms already, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Ian Storey, defending, described the attack as a "sudden outpouring of violence" rather than a premeditated assault, and drew attention to the fact no weapon was used. But he admitted a pre-sentence report showed Preece had no motivation to change his attitude - one which seems to glorify violence.

Sentencing him to four years in prison Judge Michael Murphy QC said he had decided against an indeterminate sentence because of Preece's age.
But Preece smirked as Judge Murphy told him: "I would imagine the vast majority of decent villagers would infinitely prefer it if you got out of their village, rather than him."

After the hearing DC John Yoxall, the officer in charge of the case, said: "Having seen Mr Khan in hospital the night it happened I am still amazed he did not suffer more injuries."

Sheffield Star

Black British man attacked in Germany by neo-Nazi thugs

Sympathisers of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) wave flags during a demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (file photo)

A black British man is recovering after being attacked in front of his wife and child by neo-Nazi thugs in Germany.

The 46-year-old unidentified man, believed to be from London, was in a baker’s shop in the port city of Hamburg on Saturday when thugs from the National Democratic Party approached him with leaflets calling for a ban on immigration.

'Here, take one of these with you back where you belong,' they said to him as he stood with his wife and four-year-old son.

They say the man ripped the pamphlet up and the men then pushed the Briton against a glass window.

One man punched him while another sprayed pepper spray in his eyes.

Three suspects were apprehended later and prosecutors are now investigating them on suspicion of causing bodily harm.

The British man , who has not been named, was treated in a hospital and released.

An eyewitness said: 'The wife was screaming for them to leave her husband alone but they just heaped more racial abuse on her as her little boy screamed ‘leave my daddy alone!’ It was vicious and unprovoked.'

A convoy of police cars descended on the crime scene and the attackers were caught in a nearby road. They are now facing charges of causing grievous bodily harm.

'We are treating this as a racist crime,” said a police spokesman.

The NPD is Germany’s leading neo-Nazi party that is seeking to gain traction in the national parliament in the general election next month.

It opposes immigration, the EU and multi-cultural teaching in schools and its supporter are cited by mainstream politicians as being behind many of the racist attacks against individuals in Germany.

The rise of thee Far Right has alarmed the German government in recent years as neo-Nazi sympathisers

In local elections in June, the east German cities of Leipzig, Dresden, Weimar, Schwerin, Rostock and Erfurt the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) won seats in all councils.

In Parthenstein in Saxony the NPD candidate tied with his centre-left social democratic opponent – but then won the vacant seat by drawing straws with his rival.

A far-Right defector earlier this year told how neo-Nazi recruitment was spiking among the young as unemployment went up and they saw their families struggling in the downturn.

Former NPD official Uwe Luthardt painted a chilling picture of them attempting to build a ‘Fourth Reich’ from the grassroots upwards.

Sympathisers of the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) wave flags during a demonstration in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin (file photo)

Experts fear that the worsening conditions are worryingly similar to those of the late 1920s and early 1930s which propelled Hitler's Nazi regime - the Third Reich - to power.

He went on: 'The simple aim is the restoration of the Reich in which a new stormtrooper organisation takes revenge on anyone who disagrees with them.

'In Jena in East Germany in the NPD HQ there are a load of SS pictures in the cellar. And there's a room with weapons.

'The basic concept the NPD talks about is, "Let's kick out all the foreigners, then the Germans will have jobs again".

'The dream is of the German Reich. They're totally convinced that they'll win an election one day and that things will really get going.

'Everyone can imagine what would happen then.'

Daily Mail

Angel-faced racist aged 12 - Girl burns golly at BNP's Red, White and Blue

A little girl grins with glee as she holds a golly over a fire . . . while a jeering BNP politician finds the doll guilty of BEING BLACK during a vile mock trial and execution. The baying crowd cheers when the toy - dubbed Winston - is condemned and dropped on to the flames to "die". Goading on the assembled adults and kids, the politician, a local council candidate, yells out these chilling words: "Let's get a real one . . . in the town we'll find one or two."

The sickening stunt was staged at the British National Party's annual FAMILY festival last weekend - yet the BNP insists it is NOT racist as part of its successful ploy to attract votes in elections. Around 1,200 members converged on fields at Codnor, Derbys, for the Red White and Blue "fun" weekend. Our undercover reporter, posing as a supporter to gain entry to the members-only event, secretly filmed racism everywhere.

(Left, GUILTY: Golly 'Winston' is held by girl before being dropped on the fire)

For £1 a go, people were throwing wet sponges at a man in a Barack Obama mask locked in stocks. Elsewhere stalls were selling T-shirts with slogans like It's A White Thing and books such as Race, Evolution and Behavior - which insists whites give birth to larger-brained babies and blacks are prone to crime. Supporters gave Nazi-style salutes and shouted Sieg Heil.

And in the "political tent", party chairman and MEP Nick Griffin, 50, was setting out how his party would deal with proposed anti-discrimination laws forcing the BNP to change its whites-only membership policy. He said: "Since if we want to survive we will be forced to let them in, the key will be before we do so to change the party - to ensure that whoever's coming in doesn't have any control."

Saturday night was the climax of the festival - and when the vileness reached its peak. Firstly, around 50 skinheads took part in a PAGAN ceremony to summon occult powers for their cause. They chanted incantations as they passed around and drank from an animal horn filled wth mead.

(Left, JUDGE & JURY: Coombes (seated), Hamilton (top left), and a BNP mate)

Two hours later, local council candidates John Coombes, of Maidenhead, Berks, and Dick Hamilton of Marlow, Bucks, were sitting with others around a brazier. Hamilton's ghettoblaster blared out songs supporting Hitler and attacking "niggers". Then began the "trial" led by Coombes, 45.

A 12-year-old girl there with her dad (we are protecting her identity) held a golly called Winston over the fire as Coombes "charged" him with "mugging, rape, drug dealing". He sneered: "Right Winston, you're about to get cooked. Anything else to say? Says he ain't a drug dealer. He thinks he's not black. He's charged with being black. Now get on there."

Skinhead Hamilton chipped in: "If he jumps off he's innocent." Coombes went on: "He's guilty, guilty as charged. Let's get a real one - in the town we'll find one or two. They'll also be guilty of the heinous crimes I charged him with - may God forgive your horrible soul." Coombes repeated the charges then added: "He may have appeared innocent to you lot but I'm sure he done lots of things wrong."

During the weekend the party's other MEP Andrew Brons used his stint in the political tent to compare Muslims to SMALLPOX during his speech. He declared: "I'm less concerned about the presence of mosques than the presence of the people that use them. Being worried about the presence of a particular mosque is almost like looking at a disease like smallpox and saying it's a problem with spots."

Ex-BNP cultural officer Jonathan Bowden, 47, also attacked Islam, and dubbed Jewish Israel as "cancer". He bleated: "The only way this (Muslim) problem will be solved is if they go back - go back to their civilisation. (But) we must renounce support for Israel. Israel is the cancer that lies at the heart of much of this."

(Left, SICK SALUTE: Party supporters make the Nazi sign and yell out 'Sieg Heil')

And Greater London Authority member Richard Barnbrook joked about BLACKING himself up. The deputy opposition leader of Barking and Dagenham council boasted: "I've got balls made of steel. In my own ward, if I go around naked, and put boot polish on my face, they'd still love me."

In the evenings, supporters sat round campfires venting hate. During one chat, Stockport area organiser Duncan Warner explained to our reporter in sick twisted logic why using the word "Paki" was OK.

"Paki means pure. So why do you get offended when all that they're doing is calling you pure?" he whined. "You get called a Paki, how can you get offended by that?"

Elsewhere party supporter Danny Marshall, of Cotmanhay, Derbys, and his girlfriend Bev boasted of using intimidation tactics to rid the village of foreigners who'd moved there. Bev said: "Where I live is National Front. It's BNP. There's this black family that's just moved in from Nigeria. An hour later they were out...They were coming to nick our jobs. They had an hour to get out of their premises - from us people, ourselves."

Marshall said: "The Lithuanians and Czechs are sneaking in because they're white. You find the fuckers on the doorstep."

Bev added: "These guys from Poland came into Cotmanhay and did a car wash. Somebody wrote BNP on their sign - once that was there they were gone...guess who that was? Me and Danny. I wrote BNP."

Elsewhere another man moaned: "If things don't become any better, and I become older, so I'm 70 or 75, I'll take a GPMG (machine gun) - seriously, I'm not joking here - and I'm going to fucking destroy lots of people.

On one occasion shouts of "Reds, reds" broke out. BNP members grabbed hammers and axes then charged to the perimeter fence. A lone anti-facism protester trying to get into the festival was stopped by police before the thugs got to him.

During the weekend police arrested 19 of the protesters outside - and one BNP member. Meanwhile, half an hour after the sick golly burning the BNP's London organiser Bob Bailey arrived. With him was Griffin - who stated last October "the BNP is not racist". Together they warmed themselves on the embers.

NoTW

BNP faces court case over membership rules

The British National party is being taken to court over claims its membership criteria breach human rights law.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission said it had issued county court proceedings against the party leader, Nick Griffin, and two other officials today over the BNP's membership rules.

The party's constitution limits members to people who are "'indigenous Caucasian' and defined 'ethnic groups' emanating from that race".

The commission first wrote to the BNP in June stating that it believed the party is in breach of the Race Relations Act. The far right organisation responded by saying it intended to clarify the word "white" on its website.

However, the commission said today that it believes the BNP is still discriminating against "potential or actual members on racial grounds".

"The BNP has said that it is not willing to amend its membership criteria which we believe are discriminatory and unlawful," said John Wadham the commission's group director.

"The commission has a statutory duty to use our regulatory powers to enforce compliance with the law so we have today issued county court proceedings against the BNP."

Wadham said the BNP could still avoid court action if it moved quickly to change its membership rules.

However, a spokesman for the party said it intended to fight the move, claiming the action was politically motivated.

"It is strange that this is happening now when these rules have been in place for a long time," said the BNP's deputy leader, Simon Darby. "And we certainly resent the fact that some unelected body which is 70% ethnic can accuse us of racism."

The commission said it had decided not to take action on two other grounds set out in its original letter to the BNP after the party agreed to comply with the law.

The Guardian

BNP rally hotel licence revoked

A BLACKPOOL hotel which plays host to the annual BNP conference has had its entertainment and alcohol licence revoked.
The New Kimberley on South Promenade was brought before Blackpool Council's licensing panel for posing a risk to public safety, and failing to comply with health and safety notices.

The hotel caused public outcry after hosting three of the far-right BNP conferences since 2006, as well as this summer's "celebration event" after two party members were elected to the European Parliament in May.

New Kimberley manager Peter Metcalfe, who was fined £1,000 for nine offences of breaching food hygiene safety rules last year, was issued with two enforcement notices from Lancashire Fire and Rescue, which found the hotel to had inadequate fire safety standards.

And Blackpool Council officers had visited the 50-bedroomed hotel on numerous occasions, issuing a hygiene improvement notice in October.

At Friday's meeting, Gareth Shaw, spokesman for Blackpool Council's Health and Safety Enforcement Section, said: "We have had many unpleasant dealings with the people responsible for the New Kimberley.

"We issued a hygiene improvement notice in October after customer complaints since 2006.

"We also requested the hotel produce a certificate proving there was no asbestos risk on the premises, and that regular testing of electrical equipment took place."

The hotel was sent a letter demanding action on April 22, but on June 10 the council was forced to issue court proceedings. Management was fined £525 for seven offences of failing to comply with health and safety notices.

Mr Shaw added: "We've since visited, but Mr Metcalfe has become very aggressive and we have seen no efforts made to improve health and safety."

The fire service's enforcement notices to the hotel, whose leaseholder is Susan Metcalfe, also demanded that smoke detectors should be fitted, and that designated fire exits should be identified. These requests were ignored, said fire chiefs.

Paul Roper, spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue, said: "I've little confidence the managers of this hotel will ever comply with health and safety laws.

"We've been extremely accommodating with Mr and Mrs Metcalfe.

"We granted an extension when our enforcement notice, issued in July 2007, ran out, as Mr Metcalfe said the ownership of the hotel had changed hands, and now belonged to a Mr John Donut, of South Shore Travel.

"We've tried to get hold of this man, but we've never been able to, and therefore we have reason to doubt his existence.

"The managers of this hotel have continually failed to meet any safety standards and therefore we support the council in their call for a review of the licence."

David Kelly, spokesman and "designated fire safety officer" for the New Kimberly, said: "We have tens of thousands of visitors every year, and we have never had any problems. I know everything has been dealt with on an ad hoc basis, but we have had many problems and I'm determined to sort them out.

"I've never met Mr Donut, but I believe he had some financial input and then moved to Indonesia, and he ceased to own the hotel from August this year. We have also had firebomb threats because of the BNP conference, so we have been distracted.

"We have recently installed a £35,000 fire alarm system, and under my guidance Mr and Mrs Metcalfe will run a pristinely clean, safe hotel that will be among the best in Blackpool."

Mr Kelly claimed the council had taken action against the hotel due to its hosting of the BNP conference. The council denied the claim.

The hotel will have 21 days to appeal against the decision, after which time it will no longer be able to sell alcohol, or provide entertainment

Blackpool Gazette

BNP student imported knuckle-dusters

Tightrope - violently white supremacist

A City music student with an interest in far-right political groups illegally imported knuckledusters and CS spray from a member of a white supremacist movement in America. Michael Winfield planned to add the prohibited items to a collection kept under his bed.

Customs and Excise officers in Manchester intercepted a parcel from a prominent member of Tightrope to Winfield, a New College Nottingham student, who lives with his mum in Carlton. Marked as "books and paperweights", the package contained three 14g CS spray key-rings and four knuckledusters, bought for as little as $15 each.

Eight neo-Nazi booklets were discovered, two Tightrope catalogues and a booklet called The True History of the Holocaust.

The seizure led police to search the family home on December 3, 2007. A similar CS spray was found in Winfield's bedroom, two more knuckledusters, an extendable baton, a BNP membership card and 49 BNP pamphlets. His computer had images of neo-Nazis and weaponry and a photograph of 20-year-old Winfield in front of a flag, brandishing a weapon.

He ordered another package while on bail, again intercepted. It contained a telescopic baton, 13 stickers with racist slogans, and two T-shirts bearing the slogan "White Pride Worldwide."

At Nottingham Crown Court, Winfield, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to importing prohibited items and possessing a prohibited weapon. Recorder Richard Burns heard Winfield's explanation for the collection was simple curiosity, and that he was going to add them to his collection in his bedroom.

Prosecutor Michael Auty said: "There is no evidence that these items, however repugnant, were being imported for some specific purpose or some specific attack."

The judge imposed a 12-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, with 120 hours of community work and supervision by the probation service for 18 months.

This Is Nottingham

Angel-faced racist aged 12: Girl burns golly at BNP fun day

GUILTY: Golly 'Winston' is held by girl before being dropped on the fire




SICK SALUTE: Party supporters make the Nazi sign and yell out 'Sieg Heil'




JUDGE & JURY: Coombes (seated), Hamilton (top left), and a BNP mate


UNDERCOVER: Our man with boss Griffin

A LITTLE girl grins with glee as she holds a golly over a fire . . . while a jeering BNP politician finds the doll guilty of BEING BLACK during a vile mock trial and execution.

The baying crowd cheers when the toy - dubbed Winston - is condemned and dropped on to the flames to "die".

Goading on the assembled adults and kids the politician, a local council candidate, yells out these chilling words: "Let's get a real one . . . in the town we'll find one or two."

The sickening stunt was staged at the British National Party's annual FAMILY festival last weekend - yet the BNP insists it is NOT racist as part of its successful ploy to attract votes in elections.

Around 1,200 members converged on fields at Codnor, Derbys, for the Red White and Blue "fun" weekend. Our undercover reporter, posing as a supporter to gain entry to the members-only event, secretly filmed racism everywhere.

For £1 a go, people were throwing wet sponges at a man in a Barack Obama mask locked in stocks.

Elsewhere stalls were selling T-shirts with slogans like It's A White Thing and books such as Race, Evolution and Behavior - which insists whites give birth to larger-brained babies and blacks are prone to crime.

Supporters gave Nazi-style salutes and shouted Sieg Heil.

Cooked

And in the "political tent", party chairman and MEP Nick Griffin, 50, was setting out how his party would deal with proposed anti-discrimination laws forcing the BNP to change its whites-only membership policy.

He said: "Since if we want to survive we will be forced to let them in, the key will be before we do so to change the party - to ensure that whoever's coming in doesn't have any control."

Saturday night was the climax of the festival - and when the vileness reached its peak. Firstly, around 50 skinheads took part in a PAGAN ceremony to summon occult powers for their cause.

They chanted incantations as they passed around and drank from an animal horn filled wth mead.

Two hours later, local council candidates John Coombes, of Maidenhead, Berks, and Dick Hamilton of Marlow, Bucks, were sitting with others around a brazier.

Hamilton's ghettoblaster blared out songs supporting Hitler and attacking "ni**ers".

Then began the "trial" led by Coombes, 45.

A 12-year-old girl there with her dad (we are protecting her identity) held a golly called Winston over the fire as Coombes "charged" him with "mugging, rape, drug dealing".

He sneered: "Right Winston, you're about to get cooked. Anything else to say?

"Says he ain't a drug dealer. He thinks he's not black. He's charged with being black. Now get on there."

Skinhead Hamilton chipped in: "If he jumps off he's innocent." Coombes went on: "He's guilty, guilty as charged.

"Let's get a real one - in the town we'll find one or two. They'll also be guilty of the heinous crimes I charged him with - may God forgive your horrible soul." Coombes repeated the charges then added: "He may have appeared innocent to you lot but I'm sure he done lots of things wrong."

During the weekend the party's other MEP Andrew Brons used his stint in the political tent to compare Muslims to SMALLPOX during his speech.

He declared: "I'm less concerned about the presence of mosques than the presence of the people that use them. Being worried about the presence of a particular mosque is almost like looking at a disease like smallpox and saying it's a problem with spots."

Ex-BNP cultural officer Jonathan Bowden, 47, also attacked Islam, and dubbed Jewish Israel as "cancer".

He bleated: "The only way this (Muslim) problem will be solved is if they go back - go back to their civilisation.

"(But) we must renounce support for Israel. Israel is the cancer that lies at the heart of much of this."

And Greater London Authority member Richard Barnbrook joked about BLACKING himself up.

The deputy opposition leader of Barking and Dagenham council boasted: "I've got balls made of steel. In my own ward, if I go around naked, and put boot polish on my face, they'd still love me."

In the evenings, supporters sat round campfires venting hate.

During one chat, Stockport area organiser Duncan Warner explained to our reporter in sick twisted logic why using the word "P*ki" was OK.

"P*ki means pure. So why do you get offended when all that they're doing is calling you pure?" he whined. "You get called a P*ki, how can you get offended by that?"

Elsewhere party supporter Danny Marshall, of Cotmanhay, Derbys, and his girlfriend Bev boasted of using intimidation tactics to rid the village of foreigners who'd moved there.

Bev said: "Where I live is National Front. It's BNP. There's this black family that's just moved in from Nigeria. An hour later they were out . . .

"They were coming to nick our jobs. They had an hour to get out of their premises - from us people, ourselves."

Marshall said: "The Lithuanians and Czechs are sneaking in because they're white. You find the f***ers on the doorstep."

Bev added: "These guys from Poland came into Cotmanhay and did a car wash. Somebody wrote BNP on their sign - once that was there they were gone . . . guess who that was? Me and Danny. I wrote BNP."

Elsewhere another man moaned: "If things don't become any better, and I become older, so I'm 70 or 75, I'll take a GPMG (machine gun) - seriously, I'm not joking here - and I'm going to f***ing destroy lots of people."

Embers

On one occasion shouts of "Reds, reds" broke out.

BNP members grabbed hammers and axes then charged to the perimeter fence. A lone anti-facism protester trying to get into the festival was stopped by police before the thugs got to him.

During the weekend police arrested 19 of the protesters outside - and one BNP member.

Meanwhile, half an hour after the sick golly burning the BNP's London organiser Bob Bailey arrived.

With him was Griffin - who stated last October "the BNP is not racist".

Together they warmed themselves on the embers.

News of the World

Comment: What's going on in the BNP?

Sonia Gable, deputy editor of Searchlight magazine

No sooner had the British National Party bemoaned the "deliberate media blackout" of the party's annual conference in Blackpool on November 15th than the media were all over the fascist party. But it was not quite the publicity they wanted.

A list of BNP members had been posted on an internet blogsite, with home addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and interesting notes about their jobs, hobbies, whether they were activists or party donors and concerns about individuals who might prove an embarrassment to the party, including a prominent activist with unspecified convictions.

It unleashed a media feeding frenzy. The national papers and radio and television stations pored over the names searching for minor celebrities, service personnel, teachers, doctors and anyone else who might spark a 'shock horror' reaction in readers. There were former members of all the three main political parties, which was no great surprise. Two members of Queen Elizabeth's staff were said to be on the list, though one turned out to be retired and the other said he had never actually joined.

And that was the problem. The list contained 12,801 names – more if associated family members are included – compared to the BNP's current membership of around 9,300, down from 9,784 at the end of 2007. So there were at least 3,500 who were lapsed members or people who had merely shown some interest.

Several newspapers produced maps and all kinds of statistical analysis. Local papers counted all the members in their readership area. But it meant little because the list was unreliable.

The names appeared largely to date from late 2007 with a few more recent additions. Nick Griffin, the BNP leader, seized on this to blame a "former head of administration of the party," who had kept a "membership and skills list". This was Kenny Smith, one of the leaders of a rebellion in the BNP last winter over the incompetence and behaviour of three key party officers. The biggest crisis in the BNP since its formation in 1982, it quickly turned into a challenge to the leadership of Griffin himself.

However Griffin is a crafty and manipulative tactician and the rebels proved no match for Griffin's ability to hold onto the reigns of party power. The rebel leaders were quickly expelled and, out in the cold, never managed to capitalise on their largely justified grievances.

Since then, Smith has become a convenient scapegoat. When the BNP's 2007 accounts embarrassingly failed to pass audit, Griffin wrote: "Accurate accounting for this year is problematic owing to the point-blank refusal of the former head of administration to account for large amounts of expenditure."

Smith was also blamed in the 2006 accounts, both for the fact that they were several months late, incurring a fine, and for a qualification to the auditors' report on the grounds that no vouchers had been produced to show how £14,000 transferred to Smith had been spent.

Smith strenuously denied leaking the list and grabbed another chance to hit out at Griffin. "Whatever the reasons for the publication of the list, ordinary BNP members should not have to suffer because of the crass incompetence, flawed personality and arrogance of the party leader."

It does seem unlikely that Smith and his supporters were responsible for the publication of the list, in contravention of a court injunction and legal proceedings by the BNP which have already cost them money. The BNP has never been very good at data security and such lists were undoubtedly held and circulated by several senior members. It is not the first time such a list has leaked, though never before in such spectacular form.

A more likely explanation is that it has come from a senior BNP member with a more recent grudge against the party. There are plenty of possibilities. Griffin runs his party in an autocratic manner and stamps firmly on any dissent. The annual party conference debates motions supposedly put forward by the party's regions, but in fact selected by its central Advisory Council. Although it is possible to force a leadership election, every obstacle is put in the way of a challenger. And although the party website allows comments, only those supporting the party's line are posted and anyone expressing hostile sentiments has their website registration cancelled.

Whoever did it, Griffin had to act fast to save his embattled party. A few members insisted that the leak only confirmed their allegiance; many others were worried. Police officers are prohibited from BNP membership and joining the party could constitute gross misconduct leading to dismissal. At least one officer has already been suspended and several police services are scanning the list carefully.

Others too feared for their jobs. It is interesting to consider why someone in a sensitive position, perhaps working in teaching, local government, the civil service or the NHS, should join a party that they clearly realise is so disreputable that it would cause them to be ostracised.

Here the BNP apparently scored a bit of a coup. "One of this country's top employment law firms … has offered pro bono – free – representation to any person who is threatened by their employers as a result of the 'leaked membership list' smear," announced the party website. The firm was not named. Solicitors often work pro bono, partly mindful of the good publicity this generates, but these solicitors must have realised that helping the BNP for free was more shameful than charitable.

In reality it would be difficult to sack an employee with more than a year's service simply for belonging to the BNP unless the employer can show that membership is incompatible with the individual's job or has a negative impact on colleagues, customers and the local community, and that there is a clear policy spelling this out.

Protection of the law was not enough for the BNP's self-styled 'legal eagle,' however. Writing on his blog the day the story broke, he advised: "For those people who have been named on the list all you need to do is deny you are a member if asked. Your employer cannot ascertain whether you are actually a real member of the BNP, and we will confirm that you are not a member if you ask us." In other words the BNP was prepared to back up its members' lies with more of its own.

The BNP also played the victim card as hard as it could. There were ridiculous accusations that 'call centres' were being used to make threatening phone calls to BNP members. The media sought out members who expressed fears that they or their families would be attacked. Then, what would normally be treated as a minor incident of only local interest about a suspicious car fire became a national story because it happened in a street where a party member lives, though the car was not connected with the member.

We at Searchlight would condemn absolutely anyone who thinks the way to fight the BNP is by physical attacks on individuals or their property. But history shows it is the racists who call for violence against opponents. A vicious hate website called Redwatch posts photographs and personal details of hundreds of people, many supplied by BNP organisers and activists, as a way of intimidating their political opponents. Some have had threatening phone calls and abusive letters as a result. Others have been attacked. They include two teachers whose car was firebombed outside their home in Leeds in a case of mistaken identity, and Alec McFadden, president of Merseyside Trades Council, who two years ago was confronted on his doorstep by a man wielding a knife and slashed repeatedly across his face in front of his two young daughters.

Griffin, a conspiracy theorist par excellence, claimed the list had been leaked to coincide with a hearing of the General Teaching Council (GTC), which he expected would stop a BNP member from working as a teacher. "Had that been the result," Griffin wrote, "the verdict would have been a big news story, which would have set things up perfectly for the follow-up publicity storm about thousands of BNP members being 'exposed' which would have broken over the rest of the week."

In the event the GTC postponed the hearing, but the publicity storm happened anyway and Griffin worked desperately on spinning it in the BNP's favour. "Nothing could show better just how frightened the liberal 'elite' now are of our coming breakthrough," declared Griffin in an "urgent message" two days after the story broke.

"The publicity about the high quality of our membership has massively improved our image," he claimed. "The whole affair has blown up in the faces of the plotters and the anti-British traitors. The public are more eager for our message than ever, and many of our new website visitors will keep coming back, become committed nationalists, and join our ranks."

The BNP may gain a few members out of the thousands who visited its website, assuming they accept Griffin's assurances that the party's "investment in new technology and procedures" will stop any more leaks. What the party finds hard is keeping members. Less than 40 per cent of members renew after the first year, the party itself admits.

We have been contacted by people on the list who say they joined but quickly became disillusioned when they found out the truth, which is that the BNP is still a racist party infested with thugs and Holocaust deniers. The presence of a few managers, IT professionals and ex-servicemen will not change that, just like two years ago when it was revealed that a principal dancer with the English National Ballet was a BNP member.

Sonia Gable is deputy editor of Searchlight magazine.

Searchlight has been published monthly since 1975 and specialises in investigating and campaigning against the far right.

The opinions expressed in politics.co.uk's comment pages are not necessarily those of the website or its owners.

Politics.co.uk

Luton anti-Islam EDL march banned

Just yesterday, Hope not Hate sent out an email asking for people to contact the Home Secretary and the Chief Constable of Bedfordshire, calling for the anti-Islam English Defence League protest in Luton to be banned.

Within hours, a staggering 12,636 letters had been sent, a response that Nick Lowles of Searchlight/Hope not hate described as 'sending a resounding message to the authorities'. That figure has now gone up to 14,000+ and the Home Secretary has announced that the anti-Islam march in Luton will not be taking place. In fact, as a precautionary measure, all marches have been banned in the town for the next three months.

Thanks to everyone who sent off a letter. We have won and Luton is a safer place because of it. This is just further proof of what we can achieve when we get organised.

Hope not hate

Breaking news: Two charged with leaking BNP membership list

Two people have been charged under the Data Protection Act after a British National Party membership list was leaked on the internet, police said today.

Dyfed-Powys Police said the two people were arrested as part of a joint investigation with the Information Commissioner's Office. They are due to appear in Nottingham Magistrates Court on September 1.

The far-right BNP called for a police investigation last November after the names, addresses and contact details of some 10,000 of its members were published online.

Independent

Dyfed-Powys Police said the pair were arrested under the Data Protection Act as part of a joint investigation with the Information Commissioner's Office. They are due to appear in Nottingham Magistrates Court on September 1.

The far-right BNP called for a police investigation last November after the names, addresses and contact details of some 10,000 of its members were published online. Party leader Nick Griffin lodged a complaint with Dyfed-Powys, his local force, on the grounds that publishing the list breached human rights and data protection laws. He described the publication as "a disgraceful act of treachery" by former BNP staff members who were subsequently sacked.

At the time the BNP said the leak was based on its 2007 membership list. It featured details of some members' jobs and was reported to include serving and former police officers, as well as members of the armed forces.

In a statement, Dyfed-Powys Police said: "We can confirm that the two people arrested in relation to alleged criminal offences under the Data Protection Act have been charged with Section 55 Data Protection Act offences. The arrests followed an investigation into a complaint received about the unauthorised release of the BNP party membership list."

Sky News

The BNP will lose the argument

Last weekend the BNP's annual shindig, "Red, White and Blue", took place in a small town in Derbyshire. Reports said that there were actuallyfewer attendees than there were anti-fascist protesters outside the gate. Unfortunately, some of these anti-BNP protesters soon became violent – leading to 19 being arrested. Although it is good to see ordinary people protesting against the BNP, such protests become ineffective when they descend into heavy-handed violence. Just a week earlier, for example,violent clashes erupted between the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism in Birmingham, leading to bottles, sticks and banners thrown, and brought police in riot gear on to the streets. This ended up actually boosting the BNP after the Daily Mail and other papers ran full-page pictures of Asian youths attacking white protesters.

Violence is not the answer to countering the BNP. A paper I authored entitled In Defence of British Muslims: A response to BNP racist propaganda was released last week. Since about 2006 (particularly post-7/7), the BNP has consciously changed its rhetoric from being overtly anti-Asian, anti-black and anti-Jewish to being ardently anti-Muslim. My paper takes 10 of the key accusations made against Islam and British Muslims by the BNP and points out their intellectual inconsistencies and factual weaknesses. Rather than simply dismissing the BNP's ideology as racist or bigoted (an approach that the BNP's steady popularity proves is not working) or resorting to violence, there needs to be a greater focus on intellectually undermining it through a systematic deconstruction of its arguments.

This task is not particularly taxing. The BNP's arguments are easily undermined using proper statistics and historical and textual evidence. Nick Griffin's broad argument is that Islam is an "efficient imperialistic machine" with a "conscious and deliberate plan" to take over and Islamify Europe and install an Islamic state.

Firstly, Islam is not a religion with a cunning master-plan for its adherents to emigrate with the intention of mass conversion. The Islamic concept of migration (hijrah) is to flee from religious persecution rather than a calculated drive for world domination. Secondly, Muslims constitute roughly 3.3% of Britain's entire population (according togovernment estimates in 2008). Despite population increases, is one of the greatest threats to the UK today really an impending Islamic takeover?

The BNP makes a significant proportion of its accusations on the basis of the impending Islamic state; one that will restrict individual freedoms and apply a literalistic form of Islamic penal code. These are arguments that Griffin has (knowingly) made on the basis of the ideas of a small minority of Islamists rather than the majority Muslim population; projecting extremist interpretations as representative of Islam in general. The BNP takes this even further, making the claim that Muslims support the tactics of jihadists: "The fifth characteristic of immigrant Muslim populations in all nations has been their widespread support for terrorism." This claim of "widespread support" is in fact based on a 9% figure taken from a 2006 NOP report, and is therefore both hyperbolic and factually inaccurate.

This is an intellectual battle that needs to take place at all levels of society. The specific allegations against Islam need to be refuted, at least in part, by Muslim communities themselves. Rather than extremist voices, the majority Muslim population needs to acquire the confidence to undermine the slurs being made against it and show that it will not be held to account for the actions of a minority faction of Islamist extremists.

This intellectual challenge also needs to be made by the British politicians who claim to represent the Muslim communities. The British MEPs' recent shunning of Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons in the European parliament is certainly a step in the right direction, but we also need a simultaneous breakdown of their arguments. Nick Clegg'sdescription of the BNP as "a party of thugs" or David Cameron's statement that he was "sickened" by their EU election success will not alone persuade people not to vote BNP. Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham, wrote in a foreword to the paper that "The political class has recoiled in shock and indignation following the BNP's recent electoral successes, yet has failed to confront the way they demonise British Muslims … because of this vacuum the BNP have been able to focus on an extremist Islamism as being representative of the views of all Muslims."

Finally, British society needs to start responding more thoughtfully to the views of the BNP. These issues are not limited to British Muslims. The BNP has not abandoned its sentiments towards other minority communities (its whites-only admission policy is under scrutiny by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission), and other minority groups must also stand up to such discrimination. Muslim communities should not face intolerance in isolation, but should be bolstered by the support of British society as a whole. Smear campaigns against BNP candidates who supposedly have "Nazi" written on their number-plates are insufficient. The BNP needs to be intellectually challenged by all who condemn concepts of racism, intolerance and segregation, and stand for a free and fair society in Britain.

The Guardian

Three charged over racial taunt at BNP rally

LONDON (Reuters) - Three people have been charged with racially aggravated public order offences after a group heading to a far-right British National Party camp on Saturday taunted anti-racism protesters, police said.

Derbyshire police arrested 19 people during the mainly peaceful anti-BNP rally near a farm outside the village of Codnor where the BNP's Red, White and Blue festival was held over the weekend.

The three were among a group who crossed fields to get to the camp on foot under police escort as hundreds of demonstrators waving placards saying "the BNP is a Nazi party" blocked road access to the site.

The BNP, which campaigns to halt immigration and repatriate immigrants voluntarily, won its first two seats in the European Parliament in June.

Although it has no representatives in the British parliament, the party has won support from white voters angry about unemployment and access to public housing and other services during the worst recession in generations.

Reuters

Army’ made of former football hooligans

Jeff Marsh

FORMER football hooligans from Wales are being recruited by groups who have been involved in violent clashes with anti-fascist protesters.

Members of anti-Islamic fundamentalist groups the Welsh Defence League and Casuals United joined activists from the associated English Defence League in a protest against Muslim extremists in Birmingham last weekend.

Violence erupted at the protest, leading to a total of 34 arrests.

Former Cardiff City Soul Crew hooligan Jeff Marsh is one of the organisers of both groups.

He told Wales on Sunday that football hooligans are a “ready-made army” against Muslim fundamentalists.

Marsh, who has written two books about his exploits with the city’s infamous Soul Crew, said: “Hooligans from rivals clubs are uniting on this and it is like a ready-made army.”

But he denied that the group were intent on violence.

“It is not in our interests to go out and cause riots because we will get arrested and hit with Asbos,” he said.

“We do not look for violence but former football hooligans are able to defend themselves against trouble and are not afraid to protest when being pelted with missiles – like what happened in Birmingham.”

He said the groups have about 3,000 members across the UK and claimed that many come from Wales.

A Welsh Defence League page on the social networking site Facebook has more than 300 members.

Unite Against Fascism have widely condemned the groups as being made up of far-right sympathisers.

But Marsh, 44, from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, denied that.

He said: “We are protesting against the preachers of hate who are actively encouraging young Muslims in this country to take part in a jihad against Britain.

“The UAF say we are racist but we have black members in the group and we have spoken with some Sikhs who want to join. Anyone can join our protest.”

Gerry Gable, publisher of the anti-fascism magazine Searchlight, said they had also found links between the EDL and other far-right groups. The August edition of Searchlight carries articles linking the EDL with known football hooligan groups.

Many of the anti-muslim groups were formed after muslim protesters harassed returning soldiers in Luton back in March.

Mr Gable is critical of both the way the police handled that incident and also of the role of Unite Against Fascism in Saturday’s trouble in Birmingham.

He said: “If the police had stepped in and arrested those eight Muslim protesters in Luton – which they had very good reason to for public order offences – it could have taken a lot of heat out of the situation.

“But we don’t think inciting people to burn the Union Jack, like the UAF did, is the right way to go about fighting racism. We want to fight it through a coalition of people from the community, working together to resolve issues.”

In response the news that Welsh hooligans were being recruited for such groups Mohammad Asghar, Plaid Assembly Member for South Wales East, called for greater understanding between people of different religions.

“Wales has a proud record of welcoming people from many different countries over the years,” he said.

“I deplore any attempt to whip up racial hatred and, as a keen sports fan, I deplore any racism connected to football and other sports.

“I attended the Assembly launch of the anti-racism film Islamophobia, which is part of the Show Racism the Red Card campaign. This campaign has top footballers, including Wales’ Ryan Giggs, helping to educate people against racism and I fully support it.”

Wales Online

British National Party: Mad as well as bad

The near million who voted for the British National party in June's Euro-elections are certainly angry and no doubt racist to varying degrees, but how many of them would really be up for sending a gunboat down the Liffey? Very few, because there are surely not a million people so lunatic that they would want to start a war on these islands. Yet that would surely be the result of the BNP pledge of "welcoming Eire as well as Ulster as equal partners in a federation of the nations of the British Isles".

Just like the cheery talk of welcoming Ireland back into the union, the party's Derbyshire garden party over the weekend provides the flimsiest veil for a programme that is not only nasty, but rooted in delusion and paranoia. Alongside the tea, cakes and patriotic memorabilia – designed to create a "family" atmosphere and reinforce the half-respectabilty afforded by winning two Euro-seats – the Red, White and Blue festival featured a clutch of white crosses to commemorate people supposedly killed "as a result of anti-white violence". Persecution complex by day gave way to evening self-confidence, as far-right fanatics outside the camp gave fascist salutes and shouted "sieg heil".

We report today how the BNP shipped in fascists from overseas to address its gathering. The party leader, Nick Griffin, no doubt regards links with far-right parties abroad – many of which are much better established than his own ragbag outfit – as a way to make the BNP look serious. Tellingly, however, his attempts to form a grouping in Brussels failed, as even fellow extremists feared the damage that would be done by associating with the BNP.

It is not hard to see why. A handful of BNP leaders may nowadays don suits, but a large proportion of the activists, councillors and candidates remain boot boys, often with criminal convictions for violence. Mr Griffin's one fellow MEP, Andrew Brons, has a genteel manner but was, as a young man, involved with Nazi-style groups that engaged in arson attacks on synagogues. He has German, and quite possibly Jewish, ancestry making his embrace of the most exclusive form of British nationalism a source of psychological speculation.

The brutal mindset of Griffin himself was betrayed only last month, when he suggested that the Europeans should "sink several ... boats" carrying African immigrants. Mindful, perhaps, that few of those who had voted him would truly support drowning men, women and children at sea, he added as an afterthought that they might be thrown life jackets. The hope must be, as has already happened in some town halls, that the more the public gets to know the BNP the more they will lose patience with people who are as unpleasant as they are odd.

The Guardian

Tea and mugs at the BNP garden party

Showing their true colours - an Obama effigy comes in for a soaking at the RWB

An English village, a summer festival – what could be more agreeable? But beneath the traditional trappings lies an air of menace.

A man wearing Islamic dress and an Osama Bin Laden mask poked his head through wooden stocks and was pelted with sponges for his trouble, while a neighbouring stall did a roaring trade in golliwog mugs and Union flag badges. This was not your average summer fete. A bouncy castle and ice-cream van did little to lighten the mood at the British National Party's festival yesterday.

BNP members, huddled under tarpaulin and shivering in their shorts, appeared less than thrilled by the grey Derbyshire skies and chill breeze that heralded the start of their annual summer gathering.

Listed in the Domesday Book, the sleepy village of Codnor in the Amber Valley district is a former mining community, with a population of just under 5,000. Only 12 miles from Derby and 14 from Nottingham, Codnor (chillingly for those who live there) is regarded by the BNP as "the heart of a rural district whose ancient history and cultural heritage exemplify all that is steadfastly and typically Anglo-Saxon".

The "Red, White and Blue" festival was billed as a family event. In this case the "family" extended beyond mum, dad and a couple of sticky-fingered children. One cousin from out of town was missing: a US white supremacist was banned from entering Britain for the festival last week. But others had rallied and speeches were scheduled from Roberto Fiore, leader of the Italian far-right Forza Nuova and a friend of the BNP leader, Nick Griffin.

And, of course, there were members of the BNP "family" from closer to home. "It is nice to speak to people from different countries who share our views," said Dave Clarke, 56, who has attended the event for the past five years. Like many at the festival, Mr Clarke wore his political allegiance on his chest: a T-shirt bearing the St George's Cross and a row of BNP stickers decorating the brim of his hat.

Most who attended yesterday came with their children, and in this Mr Clarke was no exception. He brought his 16-year-old daughter, Rebecca, hoping she would "learn about her culture and heritage, things that are being forgotten".

Along with family, British culture and heritage were high on the agenda. When Mr Griffin picked up the microphone in the "Political Tent", it was not to speak of the party's political future but about researching his family's history. He encouraged others to do the same.

Numerous posters celebrated British soldiers who fought in the First and Second World Wars, while in one corner of the field a group of white wooden crosses commemorated "people who have died as a result of anti-white violence". It was one of many surreal touches in an event that both fascinated and appalled in its apparent normality: a Ford Ka was up for grabs in a raffle, while a coconut shy featured images of Tony Blair, Jack Straw and Gordon Brown, offering festival-goers the chance to "knock a traitor off the stick".

Amid makeshift cafés selling tea and cakes sat marquees run by local BNP branches. At the Manchester stall, "Then and Now" displays contrasted photographs of white 1960s schoolboys with modern schools in the city's multicultural Moss Side area, beside slogans claiming that schools have been "dumbed down" to meet the needs of immigrants.

Media entry was tightly controlled. All but the most like-minded journalists, myself included, were assigned two minders; some publications were denied access altogether.

Things were getting a little ugly on the other side of the iron gates and thick hedgerows – not to mention countless security guards and policemen – that separated BNP members from about 1,500 anti-fascist protesters. The Derbyshire force put the cost of policing this year's protest at some £500,000, and reported a score of arrests as demonstrators hurled missiles, including eggs and flour, in frustration at being unable to get to the BNP members. Many had travelled to Codnor with groups such as Stop the BNP, Unite Against Fascism and the Trades Union Congress.

"We know they have a hardcore neo-Nazi membership, but in holding events like this they are trying to secure new members," said 43-year-old Dean Ryan, from London. "We're here to remind those people that this is not just a fun day out. I'm planning to protest peacefully, but I've seen the BNP be violent and as far as I'm concerned self-defence is no offence."

Snippets of chants from the protesters drifted across the site. Refrains such as "What shall we do with the BNP? What shall we do with the BNP? String them up like Mussolini" created a sense of unease, although the voices were frequently drowned out by the constant whirring of a police helicopter circling overhead.

The BNP professed itself happy with the way the day had turned out. "We've chosen a very secure site here," said Mr Griffin. "We're tucked away, so we're not in people's faces. It is discreet. We haven't done much marketing this year, but I'd say we've got more than last year."

The people who live nearby were considerably less happy. For them, the gathering had been as much of a nuisance as they had predicted. With roads closed and hundreds of protesters chanting, local residents do not look forward to the festival, which has been held in the town for the past three years.

Kevin Grant, 50, who lives less than a mile from the festival site, viewed the whole thing as an irritant: "Last year I was called a neo-Nazi by protesters, and I don't even vote for the BNP. This year we've been told to stay in our houses all day."

Independent

Convicted Italian fascist Roberto Fiore addresses BNP followers in Derbyshire

Roberto Fiore

Right-wing European activists have addressed the British National Party’s annual gathering despite protests by anti-fascists that blockaded the event and resulted in 19 arrests in the Derbyshire countryside.

Last night Roberto Fiore, the leader of the Italian far-right party Forza Nuova and a friend of the BNP leader Nick Griffin, spoke to several hundred people at the Red, White and Blue Festival about the “threat” to Europe from Islamic extremism.

Mr Fiore, who once said he was happy to be described as a neo-fascist, was sentenced in 1985 to 10 years prison in Italy, in his absence, for being a member of the political wing of the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei, a fascist terror group. The group’s armed wing was implicated in the Bologna bombing of 1980, which killed 85 people. Mr Fiore’s jail term was eventually “timed out” under Italy's statute of limitation laws, and he was able to return to his homeland in April 1999.

Mr Fiore was joined at the BNP gathering last night by Marc Abramson, a councillor for a nationalist Swedish political party. Mr Abramson told The Times that he would be speaking about the need for a “total stop” to immigration as it was out of control in Europe.

Mr Griffin, an MEP in the North West, is scheduled to address the gathering this afternoon.

Yesterday police arrested 19 anti-fascist protesters during a demonstration outside the event, near Denby. More than 1,000 protesters from the group Unite Against Fascism and trade unions gathered to express their anger at the BNP’s presence. About 100 protesters successfully blockaded the road for more than an hour, delaying the arrival of some BNP supporters.

A statement on the UAF website today said: “Unite Against Fascism is aware of around a dozen anti-fascists arrested on the day, mostly those involved in occupying road junctions. We believe that such tactics of non-violent direct action are a legitimate response to the BNP’s racist thuggery and we do not believe anyone should be arrested for such actions.”

The police operation, which included a helicopter and several hundred officers, is estimated to have cost about £500,000.

Denby and nearby Codnor, where several shops closed, were disrupted for most of the day as roads were closed and streets blockaded. Residents said that they were fed up with the disturbance from the festival, which has been held in their village for the past three years.

Some blamed the protesters but others said that the presence of the BNP had besmirched the village’s reputation nationally. Many were fearful of speaking out against the party, claiming there would be “retribution” as they had been threatened by members in the past.

John Lumsden, a resident who lives a few houses away from the field where the rally takes place, told The Times: “The bottom line is that no one wants them here. This is a little community where everybody is friendly and we don’t agree with their values. But not only that, this shatters the peace of the place. The event is far too big and it is simply an inappropriate site.” Mr Griffin told The Times that the BNP event was a family festival and supporters merely wanted to be left to themselves.

He said: “We don’t create any havoc at all. No-one would even know we were here if it weren’t for the far Left trying to use this as a cynical recruiting bid to try and get ethnic minorities on side. They are going to cost the taxpayer a lot of money.”

A spokesman for Searchlight, the anti-fascist group, said that Mr Fiore’s presence “says all that anyone needs to know about the modern BNP”

Times Online