Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, has paid a secret visit to a First World War memorial in Belgium – only to become embroiled in an angry confrontation with a 13-year-old schoolboy, The Independent has learnt.On Wednesday the pupil, William Robey, was in Ypres visiting the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing as part of a school trip. It was built to commemorate the thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers who died in the Ypres Salient in 1914-17, and its walls are inscribed with the names of 54,360 men who died for the British cause – including the 40th Pathans, an Indian infantry regiment which suffered great losses. But as "The Last Post" was about to be played, the schoolboy spotted Nick Griffin surrounded by some of his supporters.
William told The Independent: "I asked him if I could take his picture, next to the memorial for Pathan Indians. He reluctantly agreed, but as I went to take my photo I asked him, 'Isn't this against your party's policy?' One of his supporters put his hand over the lens, told me to 'get my facts straight', and grabbed my arm.
"I took the picture [above] but it's very blurry. I said to him, 'Your party's built on hatred.' He started shouting at me, pointing his finger. The rest of his lot were all laughing and smirking. I just felt a bit sick inside to see him there to be honest. There they were with their poppies on, trying to put this respectable front on, yet they're happy to confront a 13-year-old at a war memorial to try and get their point across.
"He was just saying 'I've got lots of Sikh friends' when my teacher stepped in and took me away."
A BNP spokesperson said Mr Griffin often visits War Memorials when he returns to the European Parliament. He said the BNP leader "doesn't recall any jostling,." He also "It wasn't one of Nick's security entourage who put his hand over the camera. It was someone else who was there."
William's mother, Lucy, said that since the incident her son had been approached by a number of people who wanted to congratulate him for "standing up against racism".
She added that William was "very into his politics" and "knew his stuff", hinting that he might have a career in public life ahead of him – although his talent for asking difficult questions of politicians suggests that a career in journalism might also beckon.
Independent
21 comments:
I think he was misquoted. When he said 'I've got lots of Sikh friends', surely he meant sick.
Well done though lad!
Well done that lad indeed
What a brave young man.
Just look at the reaction to the truth caught in that photograph. Griffin the bully confronting a schoolboy.
What a despicable person.
Is the braying blonde part of Nick's "security entourage" or a bnp member showing the typical attitude that one has come to expect from these sorts before a war memorial?
Jackie should be told.
Does the dhss know that Nick had taken this shower for a trip to Brussels?
Gri££in fancies himself as a bit of a political hardman, but not only did he make a twat of himself on TV, he also allowed himself to get all flustered and pumped-up when confronted with an enquiring school kid! He is simply a third rate tin-pot dictator of a party of arse-kissers, and proven it beyond all doubt to everyone.
Keep the pressure up on him; soon he’ll crack completely.
"although his talent for asking difficult questions of politicians suggests that a career in journalism might also beckon."
The Independent made a funny.
What an astute young man, well done! I'm not sure Griffin was at the right place.... surely the memorial to fascisim would have been a more appropriate venue
Stuff like this should inspire you.
If a 13 year old child can take on Griffin and the BNP then there is no reason that fascism and racism should be left unchallenged.
This was as good a story as the WW2 veteran telling Charlie Baillie, the BNP candidate in Glasgow's upcoming byelection that "He used to shoot fascists like him in the war"
Heart Warming Stuff
That 13 year old sounds like an ideal candidate for the next leader of the UAF.
I hear Weyman is stepping down!
Well done William
Good kid! I'm ashamed to say I wouldn't have had the nuts to do that at his age!
I hope he gets to dine out on that one for a good few years.
The 40th Pathans were an Asian Muslim regiment - the BNP must really hate this fact.
Good lad. Great to see kids standing up to bullies.
A clued-up thirteen year-old kid makes Griffo look like a twat.
Priceless!
As if that bunch of Nazis give a shit about Britain's war dead.
They would have fought alongside the Germans in both WW1 and WW2.
Traitors!
The same blonde was by his side when he was being egged in London. I don't know who she is but she seems to strut around with a veneer of authority.
Not taken a leaf out of his old pal Gadaffi's book and gotten himself a female bodyguard, has he by any chance?
Excellent work my be school age anti-Facist. Griffin may well Sikh friends as some Sikh anti-Muslim propaganda fits with that of the BNP.
"Nick Griffin’s religious extremist friends
The British National Party claims to be negotiating with “leading” members of the Sikh and Hindu communities. The opposite is true. Last month Nick Griffin met representatives of two extremist religious organisations, the Shere-e-Punjab and Arya Samaj Movement.
Shere-e-Punjab
Shere-e-Punjab, the Lions of Punjab, was formed in Handsworth, Birmingham, in the mid-1980s, in response to growing street crime aimed at Asians. It quickly developed an anti-Muslim agenda, exploiting historical divisions between the two communities.
Branches now exist in the West Midlands, west and east London, Slough and Derby.
Much of its propaganda is based on claims that Sikh girls are being picked up by Muslim boys and converted to Islam. Other leaflets assert that Sikh girls are being drugged and spirited away to Pakistan and forced into prostitution. While there were a few publicised cases of this in the late 1980s, no one has been able to prove that these were anything other than isolated incidents or that it is still going on.
In 1997 Shere-e-Punjab was pivotal to the disturbances in Slough. Tensions that had been rising between Muslim and Sikh youths in west London for several years erupted into a national crisis at Hounslow College. Individual fights over girlfriends and personal feuds attracted outside extremists. Some Sikh students, wanting muscle, called in Shere-e-Punjab in response to the emergence of Islamic fundamentalists at the college.
Police were called after a 50-strong Muslim gang gathered outside the college gates and threatened non-Muslim students.
Shere-e-Punjab decided to retaliate and, mobilising their forces nationally, descended on the heavily Muslim Chalvey estate in Slough. In April 1997, an 80-strong gang of its activists rampaged through the estate in a convoy of cars, flying Sikh nationalist flags. Cars and property were damaged.
The violence came to a head as Shere-e-Punjab extremists attempted to clash with their Muslim counterparts a few weeks later. The Muslim festival of Eid fell on the same day as the Sikh festival of Visakhi. Only a large police presence prevented major disorder. Almost 90 arrests were made, many for possession of offensive weapons." http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/index.php?link=template&story=61
William Robey's a hero :)
Big pat on the back for the gutsy young lad.
Excellent work my be school age anti-Facist. Griffin may well Sikh friends as some Sikh anti-Muslim propaganda fits with that of the BNP.
"Nick Griffin’s religious extremist friends
So we can expect the Sikhs to be the first wave of non-whites into the 'sanitised'(sic) BNP? I predicted utter confusion over the next few years for all concerned. Would have been better to have let the BNP wallow in their own racism rather than let the genie out of the bottle i.e. could become an anti-Islamic movement of all races.
Well done to the young man for having the courage of his convictions to take on Griffin.
Sadly the comments made by a number of people on here re the members of different Sikh groups has a grain of truth in it. There is a growing resentment between the Sikh and Muslim communities across the country and certainly in the East London areas.
The Government must take some responsibility for this especially when it comes to giving out Grant Funding etc, just look at the pots of money that have been ear marked for certain hot spots in the country.....Preventing Violent Extremisim grants, all of it or a great percentage of this funding is being spent on Muslim communities, without looking at the bigger picture, this builds up resentment in the younger age groups, and you end up with the groups of youngsters challenging each other outside schools.
This is not being tackled, and extremisim comes in different disguises.
tulip
Post a Comment