Labour candidate assaulted by 'BNP thug'

A Labour candidate has been attacked by a British National Party supporter whilst campaigning in Bermondsey

Cormac Hollingsworth was leafleting an estate on Monday evening when he was
punched three times in the face and kicked. Meanwhile the attacker kept up a stream of insults and shouted pro-BNP slogans. Afterwards the victim's glasses were retrieved nine yards away.

The candidate, who is contesting the South Bermondsey ward in the Southwark Council elections, insisted on completing his leafletting as planned whilst police investigate the incident.

"The community is very much against this," said Cormac Hollingsworth who added that he was active in the area and knew it very well.

He was a Labour candidate in Riverside ward for the 2006 borough election and again in the 2007 by-election. He is fundraising coordinator for anti-fascist campaign group HOPE not hate.

South Bermondsey is the only one of Southwark's 21 wards where there is a BNP candidate in the local elections. The party is also contesting the Bermondsey & Old Southwark parliamentary constituency for the first time since 1997.

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