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Le Pen pelted with rotten fruit

01 March 2004

Jean Marie Le Pen, the leader of the France's far-right Front National, was ambushed by protestors in Greater Manchester at the end of April and pelted with rotten fruit and other rubbish. Le Pen's visit was planned to cement ties with the UK's main fascist organisation, the British National Party (BNP), at the launch of their European election campaign. Both parties had attempted to keep the venue of their meeting secret, because of the "threat of Muslim terrorists" according to BNP press officer David Jones. As Le Pen, guarded by BNP stewards, left the Cresta Court hotel in Altrincham his car was surrounded by protestors and eggs, fruit and rubbish were pelted at him before he was barricaded in his car by police officers.

Le Pen's visit to the UK followed his exclusion from the French regional elections after his registration in the Cote d'Azur-Alpes assembly was found to be invalid because he did not pay taxes in the region. In 2002 Le Pen's racist demands for "national preference" received nearly 30% of the votes cast in the region and the FN leader had predicted that he would become the next regional president. In the event the FN's campaign was led by Le Pen's daughter, Marine, and the party polled 15% nationwide, considerably down on previous results. Just before his departure the French far-right leader was convicted of inciting racial hatred for remarks made to Le Monde last year. He received a fine.

Home Secretary, David Blunkett, had told journalists that he was powerless to intervene in Le Pen's visit. However, critics have pointed out that he has banned the Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, because of "his anti-semitic and racially divisive views" and because he would "pose a significant threat to community relations and public order." All of this is true of Le Pen, who also has a string of convictions for racist and anti-semitic incitement as well as for assaulting a female socialist candidate during local elections in 1997.