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Anti-British National Party (BNP) demonstrators protest outside the BBC Television Centre studios, in west London - Source: Reuters -
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British far-right leader Nick Griffin denied he was a Nazi
during a television debate which provoked political uproar, as
police scuffled with anti-racist demonstrators outside the
studio.
In the first appearance by a far-right leader on the BBC's flagship
political programme, Griffin said successive British governments
had committed genocide against their people with their immigration
policies and that Islam was at odds with the fundamental values of
British society.
The political elite had imposed "an enormous multicultural ...
experiment, on the British people," Griffin, 50, said during a
turbulent, hour-long debate in which he was jeered and sometimes
laughed at by a largely hostile studio audience.
The BBC's invitation to Griffin to appear as a panellist on
Question Time, which regularly attracts three million viewers,
divided British society.
Anti-racism groups and some politicians argued the BNP should not
be given a platform on the publicly-funded BBC while others backed
the invitation on free speech grounds.
Some 500 demonstrators, waving placards reading "Stop the Fascist
BNP" and shouting "Smash the BNP", protested outside the BBC
complex in West London.
Before the debate they surged through a security barrier, breaking
through a line of yellow-jacketed police officers, and a handful
burst into the BBC building. Police said six people were arrested
and three police officers were hurt.
Views attacked
Griffin, whose party wants a halt to immigration and Britain's
withdrawal from the European Union, was quizzed by fellow
panellists and members of the studio audience about comments he had
made about World War Two and the Nazi Holocaust.
"I am not a Nazi, I never have been," he said.
Asked if he had ever denied the Holocaust, Griffin did not answer
directly, saying only: "I do not have a conviction for Holocaust
denial."
Justice Secretary Jack Straw, who reversed the ruling Labour
Party's previous refusal to share a platform with the extreme right
to appear on the show, attacked Griffin as a "fantasising
conspiracy theorist" who defined his politics by race.
"The British people will have nothing to do with that," he
said.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said earlier the choice of panelists
was a matter for the BBC but added he thought Griffin's appearance
would backfire on the right-wing party.
Diane Abbott, Britain's first black woman MP, said Griffin's
appearance was "wrong and offensive".
Griffin looked flustered during much of the debate.
One audience member suggested he should be sent to the South Pole.
"It's a colourless landscape, it will suit you fine."
A black audience member accused him of poisoning the minds of
British people.
In June, Griffin and another BNP member won seats in the European
Parliament elections, a first for the party, which got more than
900,000 votes, six percent of the total.
The party, which advocates voluntary repatriation of immigrants,
has won support in some urban areas among a working class suffering
through a deep recession and competing for jobs and services with
immigrants.
It has no seats in the national parliament but will field hundreds
of candidates in a general election due by next June.
Some political commentators have noted that Jean-Marie Le Pen,
veteran leader of France's far-right National Front, used his
television debut on a similar French political show in 1984 to
bolster support and recognition.
