Men fined for EDL demo abuse

The EDL's Kevin Greaves, William Crangle and David Monks

Three men have been fined after a protest by the English Defence League in Manchester city centre.

William Crangle, Kevin Greaves and David Monks were all arrested on Saturday as hundreds of EDL members came to the city to demonstrate. The organisation claims to oppose only radical Islam but supporters were seen making Nazi salutes and singing patriotic songs during the demonstration in Piccadilly.

Around 1,500 people joined a counter protest by Unite Against Fascism. The two sides were in a face-off for five hours, separated by a police line including officers in riot gear and on horseback and 48 people were arrested during the day. The demonstration left the city with an £800,000 bill.

EDL supporters Crangle, 30, of North Croft, Oldham, Greaves, 30, of Springwood Hall Road, Oldham, and Monks, 33, of Manchester Road, Bolton, all admitted public order offences of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour when they appeared at Manchester magistrates' court yesterday.

Crangle and Greaves, who appeared in the dock together, were arrested at 11.45am, as they walked along London Road, near Piccadilly station. Police asked Crangle to remove a bandana that was covering his face, suspecting he might be trying to conceal his identity, the court heard. He swore at the officers and was arrested. Mr Greaves was also arrested after repeatedly swearing as officers tried to search him.

Crangle was fined £160 and Greaves, who is on benefits, £80, and both were ordered to pay another £100 in costs and victim surcharge. Both men apologised for wasting court time.

Monks was fined £80 plus £95 in costs and a victim surcharge after the court heard how he was arrested as EDL protesters were escorted away from Piccadilly Gardens and towards Victoria station by police at 4.30pm. Police were detaining another man when Monks grabbed him and tried to pull him from their grasp. He swore at officers before being arrested, magistrates heard.

Manchester Evening News

BNP member Peter Tierney denies assaulting anti-fascist demonstrator

Protestors outside Liverpool Magistrate's Court today

A well-known member of the British National Party has denied assaulting an anti-facist demonstrator on St George's Day.

Peter Tierney, 52, is charged with assaulting a protestor in St John's Lane near St George's Hall on April 23 this year. He pleaded not guilty to the attack which allegedly left a man with a cut on the back of his head. The protestors were said to have been handing out leaflets protesting against the BNP earlier that day.

Tierney, wearing a black suit, wore his long brown hair in a ponytail and his six-inch beard in a plait as he stood in the dock at Liverpool magistrates' court yesterday. He pleaded not guilty to one charge of committing assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Demonstrators protesting against his party gathered outside the court building in Dale Street before the hearing. Several police officers stood outside the court.

Tierney, of High Street, Hale Village, opted to have the matter dealt with at the crown court.The case will be committed to the crown court on October 29.

Liverpool Daily Post

BNP must adapt membership rules or be crushed, says Nick Griffin

Party reacts after legal challenge to its policy of barring non-whites

The British National party leader, Nick Griffin, said today that the far right organisation should change its membership rules or face being "utterly crushed" in the courts.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is taking the BNP to court over its constitution, which states that only "'Indigenous Caucasian' and defined 'ethnic groups' emanating from that race" are allowed to join. When proceedings were issued last month the party insisted it would fight the case. But Griffin, speaking after yesterday's hearing at the Central London county court was adjourned for seven weeks, appeared to back down, saying that the party should now change its membership rules.

"It is now crystal clear to all concerned that we simply do not have a choice but to change our membership policy," said Griffin. "Adapt or die is the only decision left to make, for failure to adapt would lead either to our being bled white through the courts or crushed by new criminal laws."

Griffin said the party would hold a series of debates over the coming weeks to discuss the matter and then stage a mass meeting for members where they would require a two-thirds majority to rewrite the constitution. The issue is likely to provoke a bitter debate in the party with leading members openly hostile to allowing non-white members.

In today's statement Griffin tried to appease potential opponents. "I have no doubt that it is possible to redraft our constitution so as to ensure we comply with the new law while at the same time holding true to our core principles and most important of all to our purpose – to secure a future for the true children of our islands."

Anti-racism campaigners warned today that even if the BNP changed its constitution it would make no difference to the party's core beliefs. "It is cosmetic window-dressing that does not alter fundamentally the BNP, which is a fascist and racist party," said Nick Lowles from the Hope not Hate campaign.

At yesterday's hearing, Judge Paul Collins ruled the party had 21 days to serve its evidence, with a further 14 days for the claimants to respond before the next one-day hearing, scheduled for 15 October.

The Guardian

BNP member rules case adjourned

A legal case about ethnic restrictions on the British National Party's membership rules has been adjourned.

The Equalities and Human Rights Commission is seeking an injunction against BNP leader Nick Griffin and two other party officials. It claims they are breaking the Race Relations Act by restricting membership to "indigenous Caucasian" people. The BNP says it is a "vexatious and spiteful" action prompted by its recent successes in the European elections.

The case was adjourned to give the BNP more time to prepare a defence, after the court was told the party had only instructed its counsel, Jonathan O'Mahoney, at 5pm on Tuesday. Mr Griffin and fellow party officers Simon Darby and Tanya Lumby did not attend the hearing at Central London County Court.

Judge Paul Collins said: "The Commission take the view that the terms on which the BNP admit persons to membership is in breach of the Race Relations Act because it discriminates against persons on the grounds of race and they want an injunction to stop it."

But he pointed out that it had taken a "long time for someone to get round to the idea" that the BNP - which was founded 27 years ago - could be in breach of the Race Relations Act.

The evidence suggested that the case was prompted by complaints made to the Commission after the BNP won two seats in the European Parliament in June, he added. He also pointed out that the EHRC had not provided any evidence that there was "a long queue of black people wanting to join the BNP". But he said the BNP had known since June about the possibility of legal action and said it was "unfair" of the party to have instructed Mr O'Mahoney at the last minute. He therefore ordered the BNP to pay the costs of the hearing.

But the judge refused a request by Robin Allen QC, counsel for the EHRC, to impose an interim order on the BNP preventing it from recruiting new members through its website and forcing it "not to refuse membership to any non-white members, or would-be members, on the grounds of colour". The judge said it would be "inappropriate" given that the BNP had been in existence for 27 years and was due back in court over the matter next month.

He told defendants they had 21 days to serve their evidence, with a further 14 days for the claimants to respond before the next one-day hearing, scheduled for 15 October.

Mr O'Mahoney told the court that the BNP had appointed a new legal team in the past week after dispensing with the services of its original solicitors, who had advised it not to contest the case. But Mr Allen accused the party of being "reluctant to come to court to state their case" and appearing "to be doing everything to avoid the course of justice".

Outside court, a spokesman for the EHRC said its predecessor organisation, the Commission for Racial Equality, did not have the powers to take such legal action and that the EHRC was set up only in October 2007.

Stephen Tyler, the BNP Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bermondsey in south east London, who attended the hearing, said: "The BNP thrives on adversity. Whatever the outcome, it is going to emerge much stronger than it already is."

Mr Tyler, who teaches international relations at a private college, said it was "a vexatious, spiteful case". And he claimed the BNP had "a lot of supporters from ethnic minorities," adding: "They understand why the membership list is closed to them."

BBC News