LSE students Unite Against BNP

by Estelle Cooch on 27 Oct 2009 in News

Anti-BNP protest

Last Thursday, twenty LSE students travelled to the BBC studios in White City to protest against the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on the BBC’s flagship Question Time programme. The students had petitioned on the LSE campus since Festival Fair to build support for the demonstration which was called by Unite Against Fascism.
One LSE student, who does not wish to be named, was arrested during the protests. The student said: “The police response was completely disproportionate. Every one of us was there to condemn a man who does not believe that 11 million Jews, socialists, homosexuals and Roma were gassed in the Holocaust. The real criminal was inside the BBC.”

The students had been campaigning in favour of passing a ‘No Platform’ motion in the Union General Meeting, which prevents students from inviting fascists to speak in the Students’ Union. The motion was finally passed last Thursday. Following the UGM, students gathered outside the Old Building and met students from Kings College to travel to the demonstration. The students chanted “Nazi Scum-Off our streets” and “We are Black, White and Asian and we’re Jews, there are many, many more of us than you”.

2,000 protesters had gathered from 4pm outside the BBC headquarters in White City. Some of the protesters scaled the gates into the BBC and were dragged out by BBC security personnel. The protesters blocked the roads completely between Wood Green and White City tube stations and orange flares were let off, preventing Nick Griffin from entering the BBC studios and delaying filming for some time. Griffin was eventually smuggled into the studio through a back entrance.
As news reached the protesters that filming of Question Time had begun, around 400 protesters gathered at the main gates in front of the police. The protesters managed to break through police lines and into the BBC twice.

One protester, a member of the National Union of Students’ National Executive Council, James Haywood, said: “After breaking through two gates and a line of police and BBC security, about 25 of us made it to the lobby where we blocked the escalators. What a great moment! The police were rough with us but when film crew got inside they stepped aside for the BBC security to man-handle us and physically drag us away.”

Goldsmiths Students’ Union sabbatical officer Jennifer Jones remarked: “About 30 of us managed to break through the gates, ran into the BBC main foyer and managed to get all the way to the stage doors of where Question Time is filmed. Eventually the security team started dragging people away. We re-joined the street protest. I’m really glad we demonstrated opposition to the BNP by taking action. It showed that lots of people are willing to stand up against a fascist organisation being give a platform, rather than allowing their followers to gain confidence.”

The demonstration, which continued late into the evening, brought together students, trade unionists, local residents and other anti-fascist campaigners. Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Slaughter and union general secretaries Christine Blower of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and Jeremy Dear of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) were among the protesters.

Chair of LSESU Israel Society and second year Government and Economics student Ben Grabiner said: “Words cannot describe what a disgusting, vile and racist man Nick Griffin is. The protest was an opportunity for those from all walks of life and political leanings to stand together united against fascism and against racism. We must continue to fight together against the BNP and must not allow them to take advantage of the difficult current economic and political climate ahead of next year’s General Election.”

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 07:17 and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Paul

    Racism begins with our families, parents, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandparents, people we admire, respect and love.

    However, as we grow and mature we come to the realization that what we were told by our family when we were children were slanted lies base on their prejudices. We realize that most people are like ourselves and not so different and want the same things, like a home, steady work, a Medicare plan and schools for our children (if you travel you will see this). We realize that most people are of good hearts and goodwill.

    This reminds me of a parable from the good book where a Levite and Priest come upon a man who fell among thieves and they both individually passed by and didn’t stop to help him.

    Finally a man of another race came by, he got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy and got down with the injured man, administered first aid, and helped the man in need.

    Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the “I” into the “thou,” and to be concerned about his fellow man.

    You see, the Levite and the Priest were afraid, they asked themselves, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?”

    But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

    That’s the question before us. The question is not, “If I stop to help our fellow man (immigrant) in need, what will happen to me?” The question is, “If I do not stop to help our fellow man, what will happen to him or her?” That’s the question.

    This current climate of blaming others for our woes is not new. We have had this before and we have conquered it.

    Remember “Evil flourishes when good men (and women) do nothing”. Raise your voices with those of us who believe we are equal and we can win this battle again.

  • The Bird

    It’s disappointing to see so many educated people opposing free speech for someone who was democratically elected. I detest the BNP’s racism, but I appreciate democracy and accept that we live in one. Whether we like it or not, we have to accept that the BNP was elected by the people of Britain.

    By attempting to silence the BNP you only give them fuel to say to disaffected white people, ‘Look, the government doesn’t care about you, you don’t have a voice, no one wants to hear what you have to say except for us.’

    Congratulations. You’ve made the BNP stronger.