Occupy Bristol claims second camp was trashed by right-wing activists

A second Occupation camp in Bristol has been scrapped after two days because of an attack by a far right group, campaigners have claimed.

Eight tents were set up out outside the KPMG building near the Temple Meads roundabout on Thursday, as an offshoot of the main Occupy Bristol camp at College Green. But Occupy Bristol supporters have claimed on their website that website members of the English Defence League "trashed" the site on Saturday night.

The allegation came the day after Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg condemned the camp outside the Liberal Democrat run Bristol City Council building.

Mr Clegg, visiting Yate on Friday, said many people understood the frustration and anger over irresponsible bankers that led to the demonstrations in Bristol and elsewhere. But he said: "You don't make that point best by building a permanent encampment on College Green. It doesn't help the cause."

According to the Occupy Bristol website, protestors at the KPMG site were "threatened" on Saturday night. In a blog entry an anonymous member of the second camp said the attack happened at 7pm when they were "threatened to have my face bit off, by a male whom I presume was a member of Bristol's EDL firm."

The writer said a middle-aged woman handed over a note that read "people of Bristol eviction notice get off our green".

"It was obvious from early on who they were so I attempted to engage with them," the camp member said. "Nevertheless, I was told they have launched a campaign against Occupy Bristol. This wasn't news to me as it's been acknowledged by us for several weeks. Several Occupations around the country have had repeated problems with EDL members. However, ironically the harder the EDL try to defeat the Occupy movement, the stronger we grow in numbers, power and support."

Police in London arrested a large number of EDL supporters earlier this month because of fears they were going to attack the Occupy camp outside St Paul's Cathedral.

The blogger said Occupy Bristol did not have enough people to defend the second camp as well as the main camp on College Green so it has been temporarily disbanded. Luther Blissett, from the camp, told the Post yesterday the attack on the KPMG camp had not been reported to the police. He said he believed there had been three attackers, although he had not been at the site.

The College Green camp of about 60 tents is the biggest Occupy site outside London. The public open space belongs to Bristol Cathedral but is managed by the city council. Cathedral and council leaders have asked them to leave peacefully but the campaigners, who say they are protesting about the unfairness of modern society, intend to stay. They decided to set up a camp near KPMG because it was "a great strategic location" close to financial services companies including Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest, HSBC, KPMG, Deloitte, Bank of Ireland, Osborne Clarke, Canada Life and QBE.

The Evening Post attempted to contact the EDL to respond to the allegations but was unable to last night. On its website though, a number of posts have been made claiming the group has "no interest" in Occupy protesters across the country.

A statement posted last week said: "Exactly what they're upset about, what they expect to achieve, and how they actually want things to be done differently, we're not quite sure. Whatever you may happen to think of the Occupy movement, it seems that their protest has been blown out of proportion."

Yate People

Muslim peace conference condemns terrorism

Thousands of Muslims have attended a peace conference in London which has condemned terrorism.

About 12,000 Muslims gathered at Wembley Arena for Islamic group Minhaj-ul-Quran's Peace for Humanity Conference. The conference launched a campaign to get one million people to sign an online declaration of peace by 2012.

Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said the conference would send a message that 10 years of extremist activity should end. Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri is the founder of Minhaj-ul-Quran and gave the keynote speech at the event, despite having received death threats after issuing a fatwa - or religious ruling - against terrorism last year. The cleric was repeatedly applauded during his address in which he said the "terrible" 9/11 attacks in the US had distorted perceptions of Islam over the past decade.

He told the audience: "In spite of statements and memorandum and condemnation of the terror, the voices of the 99% true, peace-loving Muslims have not been heard, they have been drowned out by the clamour and the noise of extremists. Islam has nothing to do with any act of terrorism. We reject every act of extremism and terrorism unconditionally."

The event, which took one year to organise, was attended by people from across the UK, many of whom arrived in coaches. Those who attended heard a series of lengthy and impassioned speeches, some in Arabic, from Islamic scholars denouncing terrorism and extremism.

Ghazala Hassan al-Qadri, president of the MQI Women's League, told attendees: "Islam teaches love, it teaches compassion, it teaches tolerance, it teaches mercy."

Another speaker - Egypt-based Islamic scholar Shaykh Hassan Mohi-ud-Din Qadri - told the conference: "Islam is a religion of justice, not a religion of injustice...is a religion of manners and co-operation, not a religion of extremism and radicalisation...is a religion of forgiveness and pardon, not a religion of brutality and revenge."

The audience heard pre-recorded messages of support from, amongst others, Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, opposition leader Ed Miliband, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams. And there were prayers for peace from representatives from a number of different religions including the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Rev David Hawkins, Jewish rabbis and representatives from the Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh faiths.

The declaration of peace included a call for democracy and good governance in the Muslim world, respect for human rights, and alleviation of poverty throughout the world.

BBC

BNP's opposition to AV exploited by Yes campaigners

BNP leader Nick Griffin is the surprise poster boy for the Yes to AV campaign

Voters keen to distance themselves from the far right are courted by advocates of voting reform

It's that time of the political season when everyone agrees with Nick. But which one?

A year ago, the phrase was coined by Gordon Brown and David Cameron to align themselves with Nick Clegg during the leaders' television debates. Twelve months on, the Liberal Democrats' leader's plunge in popularity means his image has been appropriated by opponents of his plan to adopt the alternative vote for electing MPs.

Now a new Nick has entered the fray. Mr Griffin, the leader of the British National Party and political hate figure, is to feature in a series of posters for the Yes campaign highlighting the BNP's opposition to AV.

The billboards have aligned Mr Griffin with David Cameron, who last week launched his strongest attack yet on replacing first past the post with AV. He said the system of ranking candidates in order of preference was "crazy" and "undemocratic".

The decision to place Mr Griffin at the centre of the next stage of the Yes campaign came after research suggested the BNP's opposition to AV produced overwhelming support for reform. Katie Ghose, chair of the Yes to Fairer Votes campaign, said: "We have been speaking to voters across the country. The minute they hear that Nick Griffin is campaigning for a No vote they say Yes. Griffin is voting No and encouraging BNP supporters to do the same. He knows his party has no future with AV."

But the image appeared to be at odds with the politician-free campaign launch yesterday in central London. Instead, comedian Eddie Izzard, writer Rowan Davis, gold medal winner Kriss Akabusi, journalist Martin Bell and fashion designer Amisha Ghadiali lined up to explain why AV would stop MPs from becoming complacent. Greg Dyke, former BBC director-general, said: "Once nominated, you've got a job for life, which is why we've got rather average politicians. AV will begin to change that." More than 100 rallies were held across the country.

Writing in The Independent on Sunday, Mr Clegg hails the vote as an example of long-held Lib Dem policies which are "becoming reality". He adds: "Electoral reform had felt like an unattainable goal for decades: now voters are being given their first chance ever to get rid of the broken system that helped produce the expenses scandal."

The referendum takes place on 5 May, with both sides anxious about the level of public awareness. Under AV, voters rank candidates in order of preference. Those performing least well are eliminated in reverse order with their votes distributed to others until one candidate has 50 per cent of the support.

However, Mr Clegg once described AV as a "miserable little compromise" because it is it not a proportional system. According to a YouGov poll of 2,391 people carried out last week, 19 per cent of people want to see a proportional voting system – STV – while only 16 per cent backed AV.

Lord Alton, a former Lib Dem MP backing the No to AV, Yes to PR campaign, said: "Rejecting AV will make bringing in real reform more likely. If the wrong change is made now, it will be years before the debate will be reopened."

IoS

Nick Clegg attacks 'evil, vile' BNP

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg launched a fierce attack on the British National Party today, branding it an "evil, vile, fascist organisation". He said the party was "utterly useless" in helping people with the problems they face, such as unemployment, crime and housing, as they could only peddle hatred.

The Lib Dems had been "devastatingly successful at beating the BNP back" and he highlighted Burnley Borough Council as an example, which he said was now run by his party.

In an interview with the BBC Asian Network, Mr Clegg was asked about the BNP and how to counter its support among some communities in Britain. He said: "I feel really strongly about this. The BNP is an evil, vile, fascist organisation. We, the Liberal Democrats, have been devastatingly successful at beating the BNP back. Remember a few years ago when everyone said that Burnley was going to be the first BNP town? Look now, it is now run by the Liberal Democrats."

Asked how mainstream politicians stopped people voting BNP, he said: "First, of course, you explain to them that the BNP are a vile organisation. But you say something much more powerful, which is that they are useless, utterly useless. I'll tell you why they are useless because hate, which is all the BNP peddles, doesn't create a single job, doesn't build a single affordable home, doesn't solve a single crime. If you want help for you, for yourself, for your family, for your parents, for your grandparents, for your street, for your community, the BNP is useless."

Mr Clegg said the way to counter extremism in the UK was to confront it.

"There are people in politics, in religion, who have views that I really don't like, but you have got to engage with them," he said.

And the Lib Dem leader said that his separation from his three young sons, stranded with his in-laws because of the flights ban, was affecting him. Antonio, eight, Alberto, five, and one-year-old Miguel are in Olmedo, one-and-a-half hours north of Madrid, and may have to be driven home.

"It is really starting to get at me, because they are very small and I miss them terribly," he said.

Independent

Lib Dems will appear with BNP on TV's Question Time

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg today reveals his party will appear alongside the British National Party to "expose and beat" them on their controversial first appearance on BBC's Question Time. The BNP should not be given a "free run to peddle hate and loathing" and need to be challenged head-on, Mr Clegg told the Yorkshire Post.

The Sheffield Hallam MP said he understood why the BBC felt that it had to invite the party to appear for the first time after it won two seats in the European elections held in June, including one in Yorkshire and the Humber. Inviting the BNP to debate on the BBC has sparked controversy, with several Labour Ministers – including Home Secretary Alan Johnson – unwilling to appear alongside the far-Right party.

But Mr Clegg said: "If the BBC invite the BNP onto their programmes, I want the Liberal Democrats to be there to take them on. I don't want us to be seeking out platforms up and down the country with the BNP, but nor do I want them to be given a free run to peddle hate and loathing on taxpayer-funded television.

"I think it's time someone is there to confront them and say all your hate and all your loathing doesn't provide any answers to anything. It won't produce a single job, won't save a single school, won't help educate a single child, won't equip a single hospital ward, won't do anything to help tackle climate change or international crime."

The BBC confirmed earlier this month it was considering inviting BNP leader Nick Griffin to appear on a future edition of the flagship Question Time programme after reviewing its stance in light of the results of June's elections. It said it was bound by the rules to treat all political parties with "due impartiality".

Labour is now reviewing its position after previously refusing to share a platform with the party, although ministers are unlikely to be forced to debate. On Sunday, Mr Johnson, MP for Hull West and Hessle, said: "I've gone 59 years without sharing a platform with a fascist, and I don't intend to start doing it now."

But Mr Clegg claims the Lib Dems have a strong record of taking on the BNP having won seats from the party in Burnley, and believes they can be as successful challenging the party on television. He also claimed allowing the BNP to appear will shatter the "whingeing lie" that Mr Griffin is the victim of the political establishment.

"We know how to expose and beat these thugs, and if they're now going to be given a place on national television, I want us to do the same on Question Time as we did in Burnley," he said.

He also said some of their "bizarre" domestic policies should be exposed and challenged, adding: "If they're not bad, they're mad, and this is something I don't think Britain needs at a time we're facing a massive economic crisis."

No-one at the BNP was available for comment last night.

Yorkshire Post