Rightwing march ban over fear of violence

Masked-up and ready to riot - the English defence League

Rightwing groups have been banned from holding marches in Luton for three months in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the violence that has marred similar demonstrations across the country.

The English Defence League, which has been involved in violent clashes in Birmingham and Luton this year, had planned to hold a series of demonstrations against "Islamic extremism" over the coming weeks.

Anti-racism campaigners said the events were intended to whip up tension and more than 14,000 people had written to Alan Johnson, the home secretary, demanding action. Today police confirmed the Home Office had granted a banning order.

Nick Lowles of the Hope not Hate campaign said: "Our voices have been heard. Luton is a safer place because of it. This is just further proof of what we can achieve when we get organised."

Luton has seen a number of violent protests this year. In March a small group of Muslims staged a demonstration during a homecoming parade for soldiers from the Royal Anglian Regiment. Tonight Bedfordshire police charged seven men in connection with the incident. They will appear at Luton magistrates court on 16 September.

The March demonstration was followed by counter-demonstrations which led to Asian businesses and residents being attacked. In Birmingham this month members of the English Defence League and linked group Casuals United clashed with anti-racism campaigners, resulting in 34 arrests and one injury.

Bedfordshire police today said there had been growing concern about planned demonstrations by rightwing groups that had prompted a "robust unified response" by the police and the council. Chief Superintendent Andy Frost, divisional commander for Luton police, said: "The risk the proposed marches pose to public safety has left us with no alternative but to apply for a banning order."

Weyman Bennett, the joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, welcomed the ban. "What we have proved is that where we, as a multiracial group, organise and stand up the EDL can be defeated."

The league denies it is racist, claiming it would march "alongside Muslims and Jews who are against militant Islam".

The announcement of the ban came as a man and a woman were charged under the Data Protection Act after a British National party (BNP) membership list was leaked on to the internet. Dyfed-Powys police said the man, aged 27, and woman, 30, were due to appear at Nottingham magistrates court on 1 September. The BNP called for a police investigation last November after the details of 10,000 of its members were published online.

Guardian

Breaking news: Two charged with leaking BNP membership list

It's that BNP membership list again...

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

Luton anti-Islam EDL march banned

English Defence League march knocked on the head

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

Anger as BNP have stall at Vale show

Angry opponents of the British National Party have protested after the political group was allowed to run a stall at Vale of Glamorgan Show.

The show took place at Fonmon Castle on Wednesday and was attended by an estimated 25,000 people.

A spokeswoman for Plaid Cymru said: “We were very unhappy that the BNP was given official status at the show and permitted to distribute their material. When we protested, we were told by the show organisers that the BNP had as much right to be there as us. The concern is that the BNP is seeking to make itself appear respectable, and in future will try to get admission to the Royal Welsh and the National Eisteddfod.”

Bethan Roberts, who is campaigning to be Labour’s next parliamentary candidate for the Vale of Glamorgan, said: “The BNP’s presence at the Vale Show is deeply disturbing.”

Darron Dupre, from the anti-fascist group Searchlight Cymru, said: “The BNP has taken a small stall at the Vale of Glamorgan show for a few years now. We have asked the event organisers more than once in that time whether it is appropriate to take money from them. Their response has always been the same – the BNP is a legal political party. Searchlight Cymru has absolutely no interest in helping the BNP to gain sympathy or be portrayed as victims by causing a scene at a family fun event, not least when the electorate in Vale of Glamorgan consistently rejects the message of the BNP.”

Nicola Gibson, the show secretary, said: “So far as we are concerned, the BNP is a registered political party. It is not for us to deny them the right to a stall.”

The BNP’s deputy leader and press officer Simon Darby did not return our call.

Wales Online

Schoolgirl victim of racist bullying says tormentor's sentence is 'pants'

A schoolgirl driven to the brink of suicide by the taunts of a racist classmate described her tormentor’s sentence as "pants" after he was allowed to walk free from court. The victim, a 14-year-old mixed race girl, was repeatedly insulted with racist terms for six months by a 15-year-old, BNP supporting fellow pupil.

Last month the boy became the first school child to be convicted of racially aggravated harassment of a fellow pupil following a trial at Lincoln Youth Court. The conviction prompted questions over whether such racist bullying should be dealt with through criminal law or by schools themselves.

The boy could have been detained for up to two years in a young offenders’ institution but he was instead sentenced to a six month supervision order and made to pay £500 compensation to the girl, which will be paid by his father. He was also instructed to do 10 hours indirect reparation, the equivalent of community service. Another 15-year-old boy facing the same charge was found not guilty after a trial.

The victim, who tried to kill herself with an overdose of stress pills and painkillers, said she was "disappointed" with the sentence. She said: "When my mum told me the sentence I just thought 'Is that it? That's pants.' He has got a slap on the wrists and been told he was a naughty boy - that's all. He has not paid the price for what he has put me through and he will never have to suffer like I have. I want him to be out into a multi-cultural school where he is one of the only white pupils to see what it feels like to be in the minority. I want him to be in my shoes and see how he copes with that."

The girl, who is of mixed white English and black African heritage, was called "wog", "coon", "nigger", "gorilla" and "golliwog" by the boy. She also suffered abusive chants of "white, white, white is right, kick them out, fight, fight, fight" and was repeatedly told: "Go back to your own country, you don't belong here."

She wrote a suicide note and took an overdose on Jan 25 this year. She was then sectioned for six weeks in a psychiatric hospital before the family moved to a different part of the country.

After the sentencing her mother said: "He has ruined her life. This will be with her forever and she cannot just pick up and start again. We will always have the problem of mental health issues. He bullied her to the extent she actually wanted to die but he had no remorse. When he was found guilty we were on a high and thought we would finally get justice. But now we feel we have put ourselves out there and not got anything back.

During the case it emerged the boy was a known BNP supporter who actively tried to enlist other youths.

The victim’s mother said: "It's very sad and comes from ignorance more than anything. My daughter is British, she was born in this country and has a British passport. But they just think everyone living in the UK should be white and English.”

Telegraph

UAF back Birmingham United campaign

The Stirrer's Birmingham United campaign to show the city's peaceful support for our cultural and racial diversity has won backing from Unite Against Fascism. Mike Wongsam, Chairperson West Midlands UAF explains why.

Twice in recent months, Birmingham has played host to racist protestors. Now there is a threat they will return again. How should the people of Birmingham respond?

Adrian Goldberg has suggested a "Birmingham United" event to give people of different colours and varying faiths a chance to show to the outside world the true face(s) of this great city. It is a great idea, and one that Unite Against Fascism will strongly support.

We think the best, and most effective, response to those who would spread hatred and division is for Birmingham to come together in a spirit of unity. Birmingham is a multi-cultural city and proud of it. We are one society and many cultures. Our diversity is one of the things that make this city special.

We do not want to see a repeat of the violence that broke out on August 8th. If the Birmingham United idea can be turned into reality it would be the best possible demonstration of our rejection of these hate-mongers, and the best possible assertion of the true face of Birmingham. It should be peaceful and united. It deserves the support of all of us.

The story of August 8th, though, should not be distorted. There is an attempt to paint anti-fascist protestors as "outsiders" and "trouble-makers", no different from the racist thugs who came to cause the trouble. Nothing could be further from the truth.

It was obvious to anyone who was there that the anti-fascist protestors were almost exclusively from Birmingham. Large numbers of young people assembled because they feel, rightly, that this is as much their city as anyone else's. And they were not prepared to turn the other cheek when repeatedly provoked by racist gangs hurling abuse.

The days when Black and Asian people felt they had to cross the road rather than risk a confrontation with racists are long gone.

Unite Against Fascism called the protest, responsibly negotiated with the police at all stages, and provided stewards. It is, however, asking a lot for volunteer stewards to achieve what the police were ultimately unable to do in the face of repeated racist provocations.

Those who think this anger can be whipped up by "outsiders" or those with a "political agenda" are deluding themselves. Many people assembled under the banner of UAF, but the truth is that the vast majority were not members of UAF, and most had arrived after hearing from friends that the "BNP" were coming to abuse Muslims in our city centre. In the age of the internet, news travels fast.

Repeated racist demonstrations will inevitably provoke a response. The anger that was felt by these young people cannot be turned on and off by anybody, and certainly not by UAF. But this risks creating a dangerous situation in our city centre. That is a challenge for all of us. And we all have a responsibility to do something positive to respond to it.

In his August 6 column in the Birmingham Mail, Adrian Goldberg said: "In the absence of a ban, it would be nice to see some forthright condemnation of this protest from figureheads in the church and politics, but I guess civic leadership is something we lack in Birmingham right now".

Quite right. It is not enough for us to bury our heads in the sand and hope the problem goes away. All of us who oppose racism and fascism have to stand together and speak out against those would divide our city and inflame tensions.

Let us show that Birmingham really is united.

Join the Birmingham United Facebook group here.

The Stirrer

(Stirrer editor and Birmingham Mail columnist Adrian Goldberg also hosts a nightly phone-in show on TalkSport Radio, between 1 and 5 am.)

Curfews, knee-length skirts and no cleavage will save the world as we know it

Another fine British tradition for the BNP to bring back - the workhouse

Don't you sometimes wonder what kind of lunacy goes on at BNP conferences? Not the bits where they're all falling out with each other or just standing around talking about the 'plight of the indigenous people of Britain', but the parts where they actually sit down and try to formulate policies. Not that the BNP does much of that but to keep up the pretence that it's a real political party, they have to have a go every now and then.

So where do these policies come from? I'm told the model is based on that of (shock, horror) the Labour Party. That is, someone at a branch will suggest a policy, the branch will vote on it and if it approves it, the policy goes through a number of similar stages until it reaches conference level. There, it is spoken to - that is, presented to conference - amendments are made or rejected, it's voted on and, if approved, it becomes party policy.

The BNP varies that slightly, in that only voting members (the BNP elite) can attend the conference and the Advisory Council will chop the number of proposals down from two per region to a single proposal to go on to the conference.

Fair enough. But what are the policies that are presented to the BNP conference? We're never told because, unlike the Labour/Conservative/Lib-Dem and Green conferences, the BNP's is a closed event. And why would that be? Because they talk a load of shite, frankly.

Take a look at the conference proposals from the London region of the party. The first is to demand a fixed-term Parliament. Okay, I agree with that and I'm sure a lot of other people will, too. The third regards nuclear fusion but gets off to a bad start by stating 'I believe that global warming is real...' Well, Nick Griffin doesn't, so that one will almost certainly fall flat on its arse. The second of these proposals is a classic though:

'Teenage mothers - the problem and the solution

Any amount of sexual health education is not going to reduce Britain’s high teen pregnancy rates, whilst the ‘rewards’ for becoming an unmarried teen mother remain so [relatively] attractive. The cycle of girls getting pregnant by man A, then being allocated a council flat & welfare benefits, then getting pregnant by man B, and being allocated a bigger council flat & more benefits, then getting pregnant by man C, and being allocated a council house & yet more benefits has got to STOP. It leads to all sorts of social problems, resulting from mothers who are not mature enough to parent effectively, and end up raising dysfunctional families in poverty. It also costs tax payers a lot of money, to fund these ‘alternative’ lifestyles.

Furthermore, people who have been on housing waiting lists for several years, and who conduct themselves in a responsible manner, find themselves being ‘queue-jumped’ by these feckless members of society.

So, I suggest that there be no council flats and no welfare benefits available to unmarried mothers under the age of 21. Instead they will be placed in ‘mother & baby homes’. Here they will receive academic education as well as parenting classes, plus courses covering all aspects of their social development. The homes will be run by ‘matron’ type figures. The homes should not be ‘institution’ like, but at the same time there will be rules which must be adhered to; such as a curfew of approx 9pm, a dress code which states skirts must come to at least the knees & no cleavage to be on show. Failure to comply with the homes’ rules will result in the mother being sent to prison, and the baby being taken in to care.

This is not a short-term remedy, but a long-term solution. Eventually I believe the implementation of this policy will result in a vast decrease in teenage girls becoming pregnant – as the consequences will be positively unattractive. Of course, teenage pregnancies will never be completely eradicated, and the homes will allow for the girls who do still become teen mothers to learn how to be good parents, whilst not being fast-tracked to the top of the housing queue.

If an 18-20 year old pregnant woman is married [marriage should not be an option available to 16/17 year olds, even with parental consent] and her husband has a job, then she will be exempt from going in to one of the homes.'

From the first sentence, this proposal is a crock. Sexual health education clearly does reduce teen pregnancy rates (and incidentally cuts down on the spread of sexually-transmitted infections) and there are very few attractive rewards for single teen mothers, apart from the joy of having a child. But this isn't really the problem. The Mail-esque quality of the next sentence is startling:

'The cycle of girls getting pregnant by man A, then being allocated a council flat & welfare benefits, then getting pregnant by man B, and being allocated a bigger council flat & more benefits, then getting pregnant by man C, and being allocated a council house & yet more benefits has got to STOP.'

This statement seems to assume that a pregnant 'girl' is immediately offered council accomodation and has money thrown at her from the benefits agencies. Not so, and let's get this straight for the more narrow-minded BNP morons who might be reading this - council housing is offered solely on NEED. Nobody gets a council house simply because they would like one, they get one because they need it. In many cases, young mums are hived off to Bed and Breakfast accomodation - hugely expensive, entirely unsuitable and frequently dangerous - until somewhere suitable becomes available. That something could be council, Housing Association or even private, but the single mum won't even get as far as the B&B unless she can prove to the local authority that they have an obligation to house her because of her personal circumstances.

'It leads to all sorts of social problems, resulting from mothers who are not mature enough to parent effectively, and end up raising dysfunctional families in poverty. It also costs tax payers a lot of money, to fund these ‘alternative’ lifestyles. Furthermore, people who have been on housing waiting lists for several years, and who conduct themselves in a responsible manner, find themselves being ‘queue-jumped’ by these feckless members of society.'

On the three worst council estates in Lancaster, there are around a dozen families who are extremely well-known in the area as a pain in the arse to the entire community. Some of these are drug dealers, most are drug or drink-addicted and they are responsible for 90% of the crime, pit bulls, general violence and sheer bloody nuisance that takes place in those areas. All of these families own their own (ex-council) houses, all of them have several cars outside and satellite dishes on the wall and all of them have two parents - some (though God knows how) even hold down jobs.

It isn't only single-parents who bring up dysfunctional families (look at the Windsors), nor is it only single-parent families who live in poverty. Far from it. And yes, it does sometimes cost money to provide for the needs of teen parents. So what? We live in a civilised society (largely) - isn't that what we should be doing?

As for the comments on 'alternative' lifestyles and 'feckless members of society', they're beyond contempt. I doubt if a young woman struggling to bring up a small child has any time or energy to think much about her 'alternative lifestyle' beyond wondering how the hell she's going to pay her next electric bill. Much like the rest of us really.

So what's the solution, as imagined by London BNP? To build more and better local authority housing? To make people pay a little more tax to cover the costs incurred by these billions of feckless young women? To force the young father's to make a decent and regular contribution to the mum and child? No, it's to take away all local authority housing and benefits and to place teen mums in 'homes' run by authoritarian matrons (who no doubt look and act like Nurse Ratched), complete with education, classes for parenting and 'social development', a curfew and a severe dress code. It sounds like prison to me but apparently isn't because the next step if these poor young mums choose not to comply with the rules, is to bang them up in a real prison and put the child into care. Fook me.

I'm not going to do the maths here but I'd be willing to bet that the difference between stopping housing and all benefits from teen mums comes out at a roughly similar amount to the cost of building and staffing these pris - homes all over the country, plus the cost of real prisons to house these recalcitrant young women and the enormous cost of children in care that will inevitably result from such a staggering poorly thought-out policy.

Who thought this lunacy up? That fruitloop Robert West? The vile Nick Eriksen? And what precisely has the amount of cleavage a woman wants to show or how much leg she wants to flash got to do with the government?

Whoever is responsible for this nonsense hasn't even managed to think it through to the next stage. What happens when the young mum reaches the age of twenty-one, leaves prison or the so-called home and gathers her child up from wherever the poor little sod's been for the past couple of years? Where is she going to go - or more to the point, where is she going to live? Presumably, London BNP will now allow her to claim some benefits so she's able to feed herself and her child but she still needs to be housed. One assumes she's going to go to the local authority...

There's a curious side-issue to this which only emerges in the last sentence:

'If an 18-20 year old pregnant woman is married [marriage should not be an option available to 16/17 year olds, even with parental consent] and her husband has a job, then she will be exempt from going in to one of the homes.'

Ah, so the minimum age for marriage should change too? And if the young mum has a husband (note, not partner - no same-sex relationships here, if you don't mind) who is working, she stays out in the real world rather than being banged up in the BNP home? Okay, so what if her husband is working but loses his job when she is still young enough to be banged up? What if they separate when she is nineteen years old? What if she's not only a single young mum in a council property but she's working (it happens frequently)? Does she still cop for the prison/hostel?

Like all BNP policies, this proposal is garbage - ill-considered, unworkable and incomplete even within its own limitations. But the author ends on a relatively high note:

'Eventually I believe the implementation of this policy will result in a vast decrease in teenage girls becoming pregnant'

Personally, I believe that the implementation of this policy would result in a vast increase in suicides among pregnant teenage girls.

Quite frankly, if this is the only three policy proposals that the London BNP can get together for its party conference, it's tragic. Even more tragic is that these idiots believe they're capable of running the country.

[Thanks to Jain for the heads-up]

BNP considers festival site move

The British National Party has said next year's Red White and Blue Festival (RWB) could be moved from Derbyshire. The party said it was concerned about the disruption caused to local people and the licensing restrictions imposed by the council.

Last weekend 19 people were arrested during anti-BNP protests near Denby in a policing operation estimated to have cost £500,000.

A BNP spokesman said no decision had been made on any alternative sites. The event faced restrictions on music, alcohol sales and the number of caravans it could host.

Protest vow

The centre of Denby, where most of the protests took place, was heavily policed and some residents needed an escort to leave the town.

Deputy leader of the BNP Simon Darby said: "There is a school of thought that says we have had RWB in Wales, in the Midlands, in the North, in the East Midlands and we have never had it, for instance, in Scotland, the South West or the South. So I think there will be a lot of competition, there are several sites which want us."

Protesters said they would follow the festival no matter where it went and added they hoped councils would carefully consider any application from organisers.

BBC

Of crap sharks, DoSsers, deserts and life

Well well, good news for a change. Great White Records is back. There, I knew that'd make you happy. The downside is that the master of incompetence Dave Hannam, Mark Collett's schoolgirl-hunting mate, has got the boot. A real pity, as Hannam is almost as good a target for utter stupidity as the idiotic Dicky Barnbrook.

There are consolations though because the manager of the new and squeaky-clean GWR is the young and squeaky-voiced Joey Smith, who is such a moron that he might prove to be even more amusing than Hannam. Let's hope that he can better Hannam's stupendous record, at least. Great White Records was formed in 2005, submitted its only set of accounts in 2006 and finally dissolved as a company because of almost non-existent takings in June of this year.

The 'nationalist' music scene isn't exactly setting the world on fire, is it.

Was it a 'DoS' attack or just a disgruntled schoolboy taking his ball home in a sulk? The latter, it seems. Simon Bennett, the 'webmaster' and James Bond-wannabe who took the BNP's simple but usable website and changed it into the terminally slow and gaudy rubbish that it is today, was apparently sacked by Nick Griffin just before the Red, White and Blue boozefest.

Bennett promptly locked the party out, being the petulant child that he is, but was persuaded to hand back the keys by South African white supremacist Arthur Kemp and it's intended that control of the website will pass back into the hands of one of the other South Africans in the party, school-bomber and former BNP webmaster Lambertus Nieuwhof.

There was, according to all the information we can gather, NO DoS attack. But then, we never thought there had been.

The Red, White and Blue was a failure. Attended by something between five and seven hundred people (including kids), the whole thing was a washout from beginning to end, surprisingly, for this was the tenth anniversary of the RWB.

If you take a look at the images (link provided by the ever-vigilant irishtony) you can see precisely what the RWB was - a car boot sale set up in tents on a very big field. All that was on sale was tat from the BNP's rubbishy Excalibur scam. Of course, if you got bored, you could always go and take a look at the mock-graveyard. A fine way to entertain the kids over the weekend.

Remember those old cowboy films with the sagebrush being blown across the desert at the edge of the town? The soundtrack always featured a dog howling off in the distance and someone blowing listlessly on a harmonica, as the camera focused on on the distant figure of the stranger as he rode wearily into the outskirts, not entirely sure of what to expect, only certain that none of it would be good. That was last weekend's RWB.

And so we come to Nick Griffin's ever-more desperate attempts to make money while carefully avoiding giving away even a penny of his own - or not to the BNP at least. Yes, the gullible and long-suffering members of the BNP are being asked to cough-up some more cash but this time there's something of a twist that might prove to be of interest a year or two down the line.

A paid membership of any organisation, particularly something as long-term and stable as a political party, provides a regular and guaranteed income, within limits of course. Core membership will, after several years, become apparent, and the money from those members can be used as the basic budget for the party. There are plenty of people who will join for a year and never be seen again but the core money is always there and always reliable.

The new Life Membership scheme, in which the member pays a lump sum (£395 at the moment but rumoured to be going up to £800) looks, on the face of it, like a good idea for those who wish to show some commitment to this party of thieves, but is it just a typically short-sighted attempt to grab money now at the expense of not having it tomorrow? Well, yes. The BNP, as we all know, is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. The Euro elections - fought solely so that Nick Griffin could get a well-paid sinecure before the party collapsed altogether - were rumoured to have cost the BNP around £400,000, leaving absolutely nothing in the piggy bank for the General Election, which will probably have to take place in May next year.

Donation fatigue is setting in with a vengeance. The constant stream of begging letters from Welshpool is annoying even the long-term loyalists within the party, who see no return for their cash and continuously find themselves having to ignore that fact that they are being conned all along the line. Hence the life membership gamble - and it IS a gamble. With a reasonable take-up, the party might survive and get over the present financial hump but I can't imagine many people have £400 to throw away and those who do are not going to be paying their regular £30 membership fee for years, possibly decades.

The life membership scheme smacks of a last gasp - a game of Russian Roulette, where the risk is huge but the rewards could possibly be enough to get through the current mess. But what about the next mess, and the one after that? Because with the BNP, you can always guarantee that there will be a financial disaster just around the corner.

Three charged over racial taunt at BNP rally

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

Kill threat to Birmingham councillor

A man appeared in court yesterday [Saturday] charged with threatening to kill a Birmingham councillor.

Stuart Collins, 48, of Birmingham, appeared before city magistrates over claims abusive threats were sent to Respect councillor Salma Yaqoob.

She is the councillor for Sparkbrook and her party’s national leader.

A West Midlands Police spokesman confirmed: “Following an investigation, a 48 year-old has been charged with racially aggravated harassment, religiously aggravated harassment and making threats to kill. He appeared at Birmingham Magistrates Court and was bailed until August 31.”

Coun Yaqoob chairs the anti-war movement in Birmingham and is an active pro-Palestinian campaigner. She is an outspoken commentator on Muslim issues, and regularly appears on TV and radio current affairs programmes.

After standing as a Respect candidate in the 2005 election, she was elected in the Sparkbrook ward in the 2006 local elections.

Sunday Mercury

BNP targets children as recruits for party's youth wing

YBNP annual training camp 2008 - Mirror story
Inside the tent adorned with the Union Jack and St George’s flag, Peter and Anthony are on a recruiting drive. They hand out leaflets telling potential converts that their organisation is not racist, merely “helping to resist the racist colonisation of Britain”.

Their table is scattered with postcards of young, white women draped in the Union Jack, holding placards with the reminder that “nationalism is for girls too”. The pair tell The Times that the British National Party is great for the country and that they are proud to support it.

However, they are unable to articulate why they are attracted to the far-right party, and they squirm in their seats when asked about their understanding of issues such as racism, nationalism and discrimination. They may be simply too young to appreciate such concepts: Anthony is 14 and Peter just 12 years old. Nevertheless, the pair spent the weekend recruiting for the youth wing of the BNP at the party’s annual gathering in Derbyshire, which attracted several hundred families.

Peter, whose mother brought him to the event, said: “Young BNP is just about making sure that we are going to have a good place in the normal BNP when we’re older, and that’s what we want. It’s cool, we play lots of sports and stuff.” Several events at the Red, White and Blue Festival, which was picketed by protesters, were geared towards youth in what anti-fascist groups said was “disturbing indoctrination” and an attempt to create a new generation of nationalist sympathisers.

Young children’s faces were painted with the Union Jack and many sported BNP T-shirts and fake tattoos of crusaders and the St George’s flag. They were encouraged to throw wet sponges at a man in the stocks, who was dressed in Islamic clothing and wearing an Osama bin Laden mask. Even infants were exposed to the nationalist cause, with toys and blow-up furniture in the children’s tent being decorated with the Union Jack.

Simon Darby, the deputy leader of the BNP, told The Times that the younger generation was “very important” for the future of the party. “We don’t think short-term, we think long-term,” he said.

Mr Darby denied that the party was indoctrinating youth: “We’re just pointing out another side of things — that it isn’t a good idea to completely destroy our own culture. We are making sure they know that white people aren’t inferior, because that’s what they are being taught in schools.”

However, anti-fascist groups whose blockade of the event, near Denby, resulted in 19 arrests after clashes with police, said that the BNP’s approach was “very dangerous”. Weyman Bennett, joint national secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said that the BNP was actively trying to recruit the young in a new drive because so many of its members were from older generations. “It’s really dangerous. They are trying to normalise their politics among young children. It is very concerning — do we really want this to be going on in our playgrounds?”

Alongside Peter and Anthony, Tristan Simekins, 18, had travelled from Corsham, Wiltshire, to recruit for the BNP’s student wing. His leaflets explained that the movement provided advice to young people on dealing with “anti-white discrimination”. He said: “My problem is with the indoctrination of Islam. I admit not all Muslims are evil, but I feel Islam is.”

Times Online