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British National Party (BNP) leader Nick Griffin (C) leaves a news conference after it was disrupted by protestors, outside of the Houses of Parliament in London - Source: Reuters -
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Scores of protesters throwing eggs and shouting "Nazi scum, off
our streets" broke up a news conference by the far-right British
National Party which has just won its first seats in the European
Parliament.
BNP leader Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons, who both won European
Parliament seats in the north of England in last week's vote, had
just started giving an open-air news conference outside parliament
when they were charged by a baying crowd of protesters.
They threw eggs which broke on Griffin's shoulder and at least one
protester hit him with the stick of a placard, a Reuters
photographer on the scene said.
Chased by the protesters, Griffin and Brons fled in waiting
cars.
Demonstrators struck the cars with placards, which bore the
slogan "Stop the Fascist BNP", as they accelerated away.
The BNP, which campaigns for a halt to immigration, voluntary
repatriation of immigrants and British withdrawal from the European
Union, has won local council seats but is not represented in the
British parliament.
It is shunned by mainstream parties which regard its policies as
racist.
But it has gathered support in urban areas among a working class
hurt by the worst recession in decades and competing for jobs and
services with immigrants.
It won more than 940,000 votes in last week's European elections,
enough to give it its first two deputies under a proportional
representation system.
Griffin said the protesters were a mob for hire that included
supporters of the ruling Labour Party.
"This is a mob of students, lecturers, probably a few civil service
parasites ... and hardcore activists and supporters primarily of
the Labour Party," he told the BBC.
An official of Unite Against Fascism, which was set up in response
to what it sees as the rising threat from the extreme right in
Britain and which organised the protest, was unrepentant.
"I say to all those people that voted for them: They voted for the
wrong thing. They voted for civil war, destruction and conflict in
communities and surely that is a terrible thing to happen," Weyman
Bennett, the group's national secretary, told reporters.
Police guarding parliament did not intervene.
A police spokeswoman said the force was looking into the
incident.
The BNP was helped in last week's election by a low turnout and
protest voting after the major parties were tarred by a scandal
over politicians' perks.
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