Anti-fascist protesters breach security at BBC

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October 22, 2009

Anonymous The Salem News Thu Oct 22, 2009, 04:02 PM EDT

LONDON (AP) — Anti-fascist protesters broke into the BBC's west London headquarters on Thursday ahead of a far-right party leader's appearance on a leading political debate show.

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the BBC Television Center in an increasingly rowdy rally against British National Party chief Nick Griffin, who is due to appear on the broadcaster's "Question Time" program. At one point about 25 people breached a police cordon and ran into the center's lobby.

BBC footage showed some being pulled across the floor by their arms and legs by security. The broadcaster said the protesters were "escorted promptly" from the building.

"Shame on the BBC!" one female protester yelled as she was being dragged out.

Scotland Yard said three officers were injured in the protests, and two people were arrested for alleged violent disorder.

The BBC later broadcast footage of Griffin arriving in the building and taking his place on the "Question Time" panel to scattered applause. Justice Secretary Jack Straw, a senior member of the governing Labour Party, was seen sitting across from Griffin on the show's panel.

Question Time gathers Britain's leading politicians, journalists and other public figures to discuss questions from a studio audience. The three-decade-old program has become something of national institution, and many have condemned Griffin's invitation as awarding his far-right group an undeserved aura of political respectability.

The BBC said that, as a publicly funded broadcaster, it must cover all political parties that have a national presence. Earlier this year the party won two European Union parliament seats, gaining 6 percent of British votes in European polls. It has no seats in the British Parliament.

The whites-only BNP opposes immigration and claims to fight for "indigenous" Britons. Griffin has a conviction for racial hatred and has denied the Holocaust in the past. But the party has tried to shed its thuggish image and enter the political mainstream.

The University of Cambridge-educated Griffin said he expected a hostile reception, but had a right to be heard, and insisted his views had been misrepresented.

"If these people would only let us say what we want to say and then argue with what we've actually got to say instead of creating monsters and then being wound up about the monsters, everyone would get on far better," Griffin said before the show.

The head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Muhammad Abdul Bari, said "allowing the BNP to air its toxic views will increase Islamophobia and give the BNP aura of respectability needed to spread their message of hate."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Griffin's appearance would expose the party's "racist and bigoted" views.

The BBC is wary of government interference in its political coverage. In the 1980s, the Conservative government banned radio and TV appearances by members of the IRA-linked Sinn Fein party. The broadcaster hired actors to read their words instead.

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Associated Press writers Rachel Leamon, Martin Benedyk and David Stringer contributed to this report.

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